University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldog Women Face Presbyterian at Home Tuesday Night
02.06.2017 | Women's Basketball
Asheville-Presbyterian Game Notes (PDF)
THE MATCHUP
Teams: UNC Asheville (11-10, 5-5 Big South Conference)
Presbyterian College (7-14, 5-5 Big South Conference)
Location:Â Asheville, N.C. / Kimmel Arena
When:Â Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 / 7 p.m.
Video:Â Big South Network
Talent:Â Matt Stradley
Radio:Â Rewind 100.3 FM (Asheville, N.C.)
Talent:Â Mike Gore
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: Prior to Tuesday night's game, members of the Special Olympics of Buncombe County will receive their jerseys complete with top, bottom, shoes and socks. The athletes will then put on a short showcase of their skills at halftime of the UNC Asheville women's basketball game. The adidas jerseys were designed to match the Bulldog's practice jerseys and were made possible thanks to head women's basketball coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, head men's basketball coach Nick McDevitt, men's basketball player Ahmad Thomas, UNC Asheville Director of Athletics Janet Cone as well as adidas and the Walnut Cove Members Association.
STAFF APPRECIATION NIGHT: Tuesday night will serve as Staff Appreciation Night for the Bulldogs. All UNC Asheville staff will be admitted to the game free of charge when they present their One Card at the entrance.
INSIDE THE STANDINGS: Radford and Campbell remained atop the Big South Conference standings after both picked up wins on Saturday. The Highlanders and Camels boast matching conference (8-2) and overall records (16-5). Liberty (8-13, 7-3 Big South Conference) retained third place in the standings. With the win over UNC Asheville on Saturday, High Point (8-13, 6-4 Big South Conference) remained in a tie with Charleston Southern (12-9, 6-4 Big South Conference) for fourth. UNC Asheville and Presbyterian are in a tie for sixth with Gardner-Webb (9-12, 4-6 Big South Conference) in eighth, Winthrop (2-20, 1-9 Big South Conference) ninth and Longwood (3-18, 0-10 Big South Conference) 10th.
SERIES WITH PRESBYTERIAN: When UNC Asheville and Presbyterian College face off Tuesday night, it will be the 22nd meeting between the two with the Bulldogs having claimed the last five in the series. The two have only met 18 times as Big South foes with the series tied at 9-9 since the 2008-09 season, including post-season play. PC holds a very slight 9-8 record against Asheville during regular-season Big South Conference games.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET (1/24/17): Reigning Big South Conference Player of the Year Chatori Major had a career game on Tuesday, Jan. 24, to lead the UNC Asheville women's basketball team to a 67-60 road win over Presbyterian College in Big South Conference action inside the Templeton Center. Major tied a program record with seven three-pointers in the game and became the first UNC Asheville player to score at least 30 points in a game since Shonese Jones accomplished the feat twice during the 2011-12 season. Major scored 31 points, a career-high for the senior from Camp Lejune, N.C., and was lethal from three-point range, hitting 70 percent of her attempts from long range. She was also perfect (6-for-6) from the free throw line. Major scored 19 of her 31 points and five of her seven three-pointers in the first half alone.
SCOUTING THE BLUE HOSE: Entering Tuesday's game in Asheville, Presbyterian is averaging 54.2 points per game, second to last in the conference standings. However, the Blue Hose are the best free throw shooting team in the league as they have connected on 75.5 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. They also lead the league with 7.5 three-pointers per game, but have connected on just 28.4 percent of their looks from long range. Cortney Storey leads Presbyterian with 11.9 points per contest, 86 total assists and 42 steals. Janie Miles leads the way with 28 three-pointers, just one ahead of Taylor Petty's 27. In total, four different PC players have converted at least 20 three-pointers this season.
LAST TIME OUT (2/4/17): The UNC Asheville women's basketball team made a lot of good plays and seemed poised early in the fourth quarter to make a late run, but High Point was able to make crucial shots down the stretch to claim an 81-70 Big South Conference win inside the Millis Center Saturday afternoon. Chatori Major had three of her six three-pointers in the second quarter alone as the Bulldogs trailed the Panthers 33-30 after the first half of play. She ended the afternoon with a game-high 27 points.
THREE FOR THREE: The last time UNC Asheville and Presbyterian College met, senior guard Chatori Major tied the program single-game record with seven three-pointers. The Camp Lejune, N.C., native was lethal from beyond the arc as she connected on 70 percent (7-of-10) of her attempts. She tied a mark set originally by Grace Blaylock on Jan. 14, 2012, at Winthrop. Shonese Jones also hit seven treys on Feb. 17, 2015, at High Point.
LETHAL FROM LONG RANGE: In the Bulldogs' last four games, Chatori Major has been lethal from beyond the arc. Major has converted 52.8 percent (19-of-36) of her attempts from three-point range, including seven made treys at Presbyterian and six this past Saturday at High Point.
MAJOR SCORING: Reigning Big South Conference Player of the Year Chatori Major had a career night against the Blue Hose on Tuesday, Jan. 24, scoring 31 points off 9-for-19 shooting. That game marked the first time since the 2011-12 season that a Bulldog women's basketball player has scored at least 30 points in a single game. Shonese Jones was the last to accomplish the feat, and she did it twice in one season. On Dec. 19, 2011, Jones scored 30 against South Carolina State and on Jan. 30, 2012, she scored 30 against Radford.
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.
CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Senior Chatori Major is quickly closing in on 1,000 career points. After scoring a game-high 27 points against the Panthers of High Point on Saturday, she now has 929 career points. Last season, she scored 452 points en route to earning Big South Conference Player of the Year honors and currently has 281 points this season.
BLOCK PARTY: In the Bulldogs' home game against Radford on Saturday, Jan. 28, KJ Weaver recorded three blocks, the third time this season she has swatted away at least three shots. She has had multiple blocks in 11 games this season, including a season-high five earlier this season against Tennessee Tech. She currently has 143 blocks for her career, a mark that has her in the top-five of program history.
MOVING ON UP: Senior KJ Weaver finished Saturday's game at High Point with six rebounds, giving her 645 over her illustrious career. That mark has her now 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 that mark.
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 Big South Conference game against Presbyterian inside Kimmel Arena, the Bulldogs will hit the road for their next two games. Asheville will begin the road swing on Saturday, Feb. 11, at Campbell before traveling to Charleston Southern on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Saturday's game will tip off at 2 p.m. and the Valentine's Day showdown with the Bucs will commence at 7 p.m.
QUOTABLES
"PC is always a tough match-up. After our experience on Saturday at High Point, we wanted to push the reset button and assess where we are now as a team and what our identity needs to be going forward. We have had a lot of moving parts this season with lineups and injuries. Mini seasons within the season, if you will. We want to have more consistency going forward with the lineup we have now. Yesterday's session addressing some issues from our game Saturday at High Point was productive and I think applicable to what we are going to need to do tomorrow night to get back on track." – Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick
Â
