University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldog Women Travel to Charleston Southern Tuesday
02.13.2017 | Women's Basketball
Asheville-Charleston Southern Game Notes (PDF)
THE MATCHUP
Teams: UNC Asheville (11-12, 5-7 Big South Conference)
Charleston Southern (13-10, 7-5 Big South Conference)
Location:Â Charleston, S.C. / The Buc Dome
When:Â Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017 / 7 p.m.
Video:Â Big South Network
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
SERIES WITH CHARLESTON SOUTHERN: Tuesday's game will be the 66th meeting between the Bulldogs and Buccaneers. Asheville holds a 35-30 advantage over Charleston Southern after sweeping both meetings last year and claiming the win in Asheville on Jan. 31. The Bulldogs have won six of the last seven meetings.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET (1/31/17): The UNC Asheville women's basketball team earned a hard-fought, 56-47 home win over Charleston Southern in a physical Big South Conference game inside Kimmel Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 31. The Asheville women trailed for much of the first half, but continued to battle and fight, eventually closing the gap on the Buccaneers midway through the second quarter. With 4:15 left in the first half, Jessica Wall hit a jumper in the paint to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game since the opening minutes of the contest. After Rachel Burns hit two of four free throws, KJ Weaver gave the lead back to the Bulldogs for good with four points in the closing minutes of the half. Asheville took a 26-23 lead into the halftime break. The Bulldogs were able to hold onto the lead for the remainder of the game, leading by as many as nine in the fourth quarter when Weaver hit her fourth free throw of the night with 27 seconds left. Weaver led the way with a game-high 18 points. She just missed out her fourth double-double of the season as she ended her 28 minutes of playing time with nine rebounds, including five off the offensive glass. The senior forward from Snellville, Ga., went 7-for-11 (63.6 percent) from the field and also had a block.
SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS: Since the two teams last met on Tuesday, Jan. 31, Charleston Southern has gone 2-1, including falling 67-59 in overtime at Radford last Saturday, Feb. 11. Prior to that loss, the Bucs recorded home wins over Presbyterian and Campbell on Saturday, Feb. 4, and Tuesday, Feb. 7. On the year, the Buccaneers are 13-10, 7-5 in the Big South Conference and 10-3 at home. Charleston Southern boasts the third-best scoring defense in the conference, allowing 59.7 points per game. The Bucs are also third in the league in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 37.8 percent from the field. They are led by Ke'Asia Jackson's 14.9 points per contest and Elyse Kiploks' 6.5 rebounds per game. Kiploks, Rachel Burns and Brianna Lakes have started all 23 games for the Bucs while Jackson and Alyssa Mann have only missed one game each.
PLAY 4 KAY: On Saturday, Feb. 18, the UNC Asheville women's basketball team will host their annual Play 4 Kay Game. The team invites all fans to pack Kimmel Arena in pink in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
NATIONAL GIRLS & WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY: Saturday will also be the Bulldogs' Girls & Women in Sports Day. The actual day was held on Wednesday, Feb. 1, but UNC Asheville has elected to celebrate the day this coming Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT (Campbell, 2/11/17): The UNC Asheville women's basketball team came close to knocking off Campbell on the road Saturday afternoon, but despite some late-game theatrics and a lot of resolve by the Bulldogs, the Camels were able to hold on for a 61-60 win inside Gore Arena in Big South Conference action. The Bulldogs fell behind 11-0 early in the opening minutes and were trailing 21-10 after the first quarter, but the second period saw Asheville close the gap to just four, 29-25 with just over 2:00 left in the first half of regulation, including an 8-0 run halfway through the period. But the Camels were able to take a six-point, 35-29 lead into locker room at halftime. Jessica Wall opened the third quarter with a three-pointer off a feed from Sonora Dengokl to pull the Bulldogs to within three at 35-32, and that would set the tone for much of the second half as UNC Asheville continued to fight. The fourth quarter saw plenty of action as Khaila Webb and Wall hit back-to-back three-pointers with just over five minutes to go in regulation, pulling the Bulldogs to within two at 53-51. A few minutes later, Chatori Major hit a layup to set the score at 56-53 in favor of Campbell with just under 2:00 left in regulation. The Bulldogs trailed just 58-55 with 50.9 left in the fourth quarter when Webb hit a reverse layup, but the Camels' Briana Cribb scored on the other end to set the score at 60-55 with 25 seconds to go. A few seconds later, with Asheville trailing by just two, the Bulldogs fouled Summer Price and sent her to the line with just 10.2 on the clock. Price hit one of her two free throws, giving UNC Asheville the ball back. The Camels fouled on the inbounds, forcing the clock to stop with 6.6 on the clock. The Camels fouled UNC Asheville again, sending Wall to the line. She hit one of two free throws and on the missed second shot a technical foul was issued to Campbell, sending Webb to the line with just over a second remaining. Webb missed the first free throw but hit the second, giving UNC Asheville the ball back trailing 61-60 with just one second on the clock. The Bulldogs managed to get the ball in, but the final shot was off the mark, allowing Campbell to escape with the win.
CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Senior Chatori Major is quickly closing in on 1,000 career points. She now has 951 career points. Last season, she scored 452 points en route to earning Big South Conference Player of the Year honors and currently leads the team with 303 points this season.
MOVING ON UP: Senior KJ Weaver finished Saturday's game against Campbell with 11 rebounds, giving her 663 over her illustrious career. That mark has her sixth in Asheville's NCAA Division I era and eighth all-time. The next milestone will be 670 career rebounds for seventh all-time and fifth in the D-1 era. Jessica Guarneri (1999-2002) currently holds those marks. Weaver's 182 rebounds as a senior are a career-high for rebounds in a season for the senior center.
SEASON-HIGH FOR WALL: Sophomore guard Jessica Wall had a season-high 15 points Saturday afternoon at Campbell. The Chapel Hill, N.C., native played a team-high 37 minutes and converted a season-best four three-pointers.
BLOCK PARTY: Senior KJ Weaver swatted away two shots Saturday, marking the 13th time this season she has recorded multiple blocks. It is also the third game in a row she has accomplished the feat and fourth game in the last five. Weaver now boasts 147 career blocks.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: Junior guard Khaila Webb did a little bit of everything, Tuesday night against Presbyterian. She led the Bulldogs with 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists and was also a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and converted her lone three-point attempt.
CLEANING THE OFFENSIVE GLASS: As a team, the Bulldogs collected 19 offensive rebounds and turned those into 17 points Tuesday night against the Blue Hose. On the flip side, Presbyterian had just five offensive boards and turned those into just three points.
WEAVER FEATURED IN BIG SOUTH MUSCO SPOTLIGHT: UNC Asheville women's basketball senior forward KJ Weaver has been featured in the most recent Big South Conference MUSCO Spotlight, a video feature produced by the conference office that focuses on women's student-athletes and their personal stories during the 2016-17 year. In the video released by the Big South Conference office, Weaver talks about growing up with parents who are deaf and how her stepfather's passion for basketball led her to the sport she now loves. She also talks about how her parents helped teach her patience and understanding both on and off the court.
SEEING DOUBLE: When centers KJ Weaver and Bronaza Fitzgerald each recorded a double-double in the Bulldogs' 68-53 win over Winthrop on Tuesday, Jan. 10, it was the first time the feat had been accomplished by two UNC Asheville women's basketball players since the 2010-11 season. That year, Lindsay Montgomery scored 20 points and brought down 10 boards while Kelli Riles chipped in 11 points and added 10 rebounds in a loss to Charleston Southern on Feb. 9, 2011. In fact, the duo of Montgomery and Riles accomplished the feat four times that season.
IT'S AN HONOR: Prior to the win over Wofford (Dec. 15), Tianna Knuckles was honored for joining the prestigious 1,000-point club at UNC Asheville. One of only 105 in Big South Women's Basketball history to surpass 1,000 points, Knuckles passed the 1,000-point mark in the Bulldog win over Western Carolina on Friday, Nov. 18, at Kimmel Arena. The senior guard out of Wendell, N.C. now has 1,129 career points.
GET ON BOARD: UNC Asheville senior center KJ Weaver became the 108th player in Big South Conference women's basketball history to eclipse the 500 rebound plateau in the Bulldogs' win over Western Carolina on Nov. 18. She has since joined an even more elite group, becoming the 74th player in Big South history to eclipse the 600 rebound mark. She presently has 645 rebounds in her career.
BIG SOUTH UNVEILS NEW BRAND IDENTITY (Per the Big South Conference): "The Big South Conference introduced its new brand identity on Saturday, Jan. 14, that epitomizes the league's strong commitment to its student-athletes and re-establishes the Conference's vitality, personality and longstanding success in NCAA Division I collegiate athletics under a new mantra – 'Where Winners Are Made.'"  Full Release: Visit BigSouthSports.com.
UP NEXT: Following Tuesday's game at Charleston Southern, the Bulldogs will return home for a pair of games inside Kimmel Arena. Asheville will first welcome the Lancers of Longwood on Saturday, Feb. 18, for the Bulldogs' annual Play 4 Kay Game. That game will tip off at 2 p.m.
QUOTABLES
"Charleston Southern is playing well and there is a lot at stake for all teams in each conference game from here on out. We will need to bring the same energy we brought in our last outing and we are asking individuals on the team to get better in the areas they can control. Looking at film from Campbell the encouraging aspect is that most of our errors are correctable. We don't need heroic efforts from anyone to play well as a team. But we know we have to be solid, take care of the details and be prepared to bring our best game mentally and physically with every opportunity. " – Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick
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