Bulldogs Take On Radford in Big South Championship Game at 4 p.m. Sunday

UNC Asheville-Radford Big South Tournament Championship Game Notes Update (PDF - Click Link to Access)

THE MATCHUP
Teams: No. 7 UNC Asheville (18-14, 9-9 Big South)
No. 1 Radford (24-7, 14-4 Big South)
Location: Lynchburg, Va. / Vines Center
When: Sunday, March 12, 2017 / 4 p.m.
Live Video: ESPN3
Live Audio: 100.3 FM (Asheville, N.C.)
Live Stats: www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter: @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit

BULLDOG BITES
ASHEVILLE IN THE BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT: UNC Asheville is 17-28 in the Big South Tournament. The Bulldogs have now reached the championship game five times, including winning the crown in 2007 and 2016. The Bulldogs were runners up in 1998 and 2005. As the No. 7 Seed, UNC Asheville is now 3-4. The Bulldogs are the first seventh seed to reach the title game since 2013 and just the fourth overall.

PROGRAM-BEST: The win over Presbyterian was Asheville's sixth straight league tournament win, which is the best in program history.

THREE FOR THREE: Senior guard Chatori Major with her three treys in the semifinal win over Presbyterian set program history with her 74th made three-pointer of the season. Last season, Tianna Knuckles set a new program mark at 73 made three-pointers, but Major's third three-pointer of the day made her the new single-season record holder in program history. Before Knuckles breaking the record last year as a junior it was a mark that had stood for 25 years prior. Major's 74 treys eclipses her previous career-high of 61 for three-pointers in a season set last year as a junior.

SERIES WITH RADFORD: Radford owns a 47-20 all-time series lead against Asheville heading into Sunday's championship game. The Bulldogs are 1-0 against Radford at the Big South Tournament in games played at the Vines Center with the Bulldogs besting Radford, 81-74, in the semifinals in the 1998 league tournament. The Bulldogs picked up their first tournament title in 2007 with a 67-57 win over the Highlanders at the Justice Center.

REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS: Both of the regular-season meetings between UNC Asheville and Radford went to overtime with the Highlanders winning both. Radford picked up a 64-62 overtime win over the Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Kimmel Arena. The Bulldogs fell, 76-73, at Radford in double overtime on Saturday, Jan. 25. The double overtime loss was the last for the Bulldogs, who have won five straight since the loss.

A POSITIVE RECORD: For the seventh time in program history, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs will finish with a positive record. UNC Asheville's opening round win over Longwood guaranteed the Bulldogs a winning record in the 2016-17 season. The first winning record came during the 1996-97 season (14-13). The Bulldogs then rattled off four in a row from 2003-2007 (19-9, 18-12, 15-13, 21-12). Last season, head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick guided the Bulldogs to a 26-7 record.

ABOUT RADFORD: The Big South regular-season champion Highlanders currently own an overall record of 24-7 overall. The Highlanders are making their first championship game appearance in nine seasons.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS: UNC Asheville senior women's basketball players Chatori Major and KJ Weaver were honored by the Big South Conference Tuesday afternoon as both earned all-conference honors. Major earned her second first-team plaudits in as many years and was named to the All-Academic Team. Weaver was named an honorable mention selection. Major becomes just the fourth UNC Asheville women's basketball player to earn multiple All-Big South first team honors. She joins Jessica Guarneri (2000-01, 2001-02), Vicki Giffin (1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97) and Wendy Beecher (1986-87, 1987-88) in the honor.

SEMIFINALS (3/11/17): A three-point play by junior center Bronaza Fitzgerald in the final seconds of the game gave the seventh-seeded UNC Asheville women's basketball team a thrilling 56-55 win over sixth-seeded Presbyterian in semifinal action at the 2017 Big South Women's Basketball Championship at the Vines Center on Saturday, March 11. With the win, UNC Asheville advances to the Big South Tournament final for the second consecutive season. The Bulldogs will face off against top-seeded Radford in the championship game at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 12, at the Vines Center. The Bulldogs would be down 5-4 with under seven minutes left in the first quarter, but after back-to-back three-pointers by senior guard Chatori Major the Bulldogs owned a 10-7 lead with 5:50 remaining in the opening quarter of action. Major scored eight of UNC Asheville's first 10 points in the contest. Asheville would keep things rolling from there in the first quarter with the Bulldogs leading, 24-13, at the conclusion of the quarter. Major was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. The second quarter it would be Presbyterian that would outscore the Bulldogs at 10-9 to leave Asheville ahead just 33-23 at the halftime break. The Bulldogs would not be able to get much going offensively once again in the third quarter, but nevertheless Asheville would start the fourth quarter leading the Blue Hose, 41-33. The Blue Hose would commence the fourth quarter on a 10-4 run to pull within two of Asheville at 45-43 with 6:03 remaining in the contest. The game would be tied at 47-all with 4:19 left in the game. The two teams would play back and forth over the next few minutes with Presbyterian holding a narrow 54-53 advantage with under a minute to play. The Blue Hose led 55-53 with 21 seconds left. After a timeout with 21 seconds remaining, UNC Asheville then worked the basketball around before freshman guard Zip Scott found Fitzgerald open in the paint. Fitzgerald then made a tough bucket and was fouled in the process. With the game tied at 55-55 after her layup with 1.8 seconds remaining, Presbyterian then called a timeout. Fitzgerald was not fazed and she made the ensuing free throw to put the Bulldogs ahead, 56-55. Senior center KJ Weaver then stole the basketball on Presbyterian's next possession to leave the Bulldogs with the thrilling one-point victory. UNC Asheville finished the game shooting 42.9 percent (21-of-49) as a team. Presbyterian shot 48.8 percent (21-of-43) as a team in the loss to the Bulldogs. Major led the Bulldogs with 15 points to go along with four steals and three rebounds. Weaver finished her day with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals with none of her steals bigger than the one in the final second that clinched the Bulldog win. Fitzgerald picked up her second double-double of the year in the thrilling Bulldog win with 14 points and 13 rebounds. She picked up seven of her 13 rebounds on the offensive glass. Cortney Storey led Presbyterian in its loss with 22 points.

QUARTERFINALS (3/10/17): Seventh-seeded UNC Asheville women's basketball led from start-to-finish in a 64-55 win over second-seeded Campbell in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 Big South Conference Women's Basketball Championship at the Vines Center. The game would open with UNC Asheville holding Campbell scoreless for the first almost four and a half minutes of the game. During the stretch, the Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run. After a three-pointer by sophomore guard Jessica Wall with 1:30 to play in the opening quarter of action, the Bulldogs would own a 10-2 advantage. Wall would hit another three-pointer in the final seconds of the quarter to give the Bulldogs a 13-4 advantage entering the second quarter. The second quarter would open with junior guard Khaila Webb knocking down a three-pointer to garner the Bulldogs a 16-4 lead with 9:31 to play in the opening half. Webb's second three-pointer of the day minutes later gave the Bulldogs a 22-13 advantage with four and a half minutes left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs would eventually take a 29-21 lead into the halftime break. Asheville made its first six three-pointers attempted in half No. 1. Overall, the Bulldogs were 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half. The second half would commence with the two teams playing back and forth, but after a Webb jumper with 5:23 to play in the third quarter the Bulldogs were leading by double digits at 38-28. The Bulldogs would be ahead 42-30 after a layup by junior center Bronaza Fitzgerald with 2:33 left on the clock in the third quarter. The fourth quarter like the third would begin with both teams trading buckets, but after a Webb mid-range jumper with 3:20 remaining the Bulldogs owned a 53-46 lead. The Bulldogs would own a 55-51 advantage with 1:44 left in the game. That would prove to be as close as the Camels would be able to get in Asheville's eventual nine-point victory. Four Bulldogs finished in double figures with Webb leading the way with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. She also had seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. Both senior guard Chatori Major and Wall ended their night with 12 points each.The final Bulldog in double figures, sophomore guard Sonora Dengokl picked up a double-double in the contest with 10 points and 10 rebounds. In procuring her first double-double of the season, Denogkl was 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the contest. As a team, Asheville shot 46.5 percent (20-of-43) from the floor in the win over Campbell. The Bulldogs connected on 66.7 percent (6-of-9) of their three-point attempts. Asheville was 18-of-25 (72 percent) from the free throw line in the game. Led by Summer Price's 19 points, Campbell ended its loss to the Bulldogs shooting 34.5 percent (19-of-55) as a team.

OPENING ROUND (3/9/17): Seventh-seeded UNC Asheville women's basketball advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2017 Big South Conference Women's Basketball Championship with a 65-59 opening round win over 10th-seeded Longwood on Thursday, March 9, at the Vines Center. Longwood would open the game by leading 7-4 with 3:39 left in the first quarter, but a 4-0 run by UNC Asheville over the next just over a minute garnered the Bulldogs an 8-7 advantage with 2:18 left in the opening quarter. Longwood would go on from there to score the final two points of the quarter to own a 9-8 lead after the conclusion of the first quarter. Four different Bulldogs combined to score the first eight points of the game for Asheville. The second quarter would commence with Longwood going on an 8-4 run to take a 17:12 lead with 5:07 remaining in the first half. The Lancers would own a 24-20 lead at the halftime break. The Bulldogs would start the third quarter on an 8-4 run and after a mid-range jumper by senior guard Chatori Major the two teams would be all tied up at 28-28 with 7:19 left in the quarter. Asheville would eventually go on a 14-6 run to get things going in the third quarter to own a 34-30 advantage with just under three minutes to go in the quarter. In total, the Bulldogs outscored the Lancers, 20-14, in the third quarter to take a 40-38 lead into the fourth and final quarter. To get things going in the fourth quarter, UNC Asheville would hold Longwood scoreless for well over three minutes at one point while at the same time going on an 8-2 run to own a 48-40 lead after a layup by senior center KJ Weaver with 7:06 remaining in the game. Asheville would control things over the next few minutes, but the Lancers kept inching closer and with just 37 seconds remaining the score would be just 60-59 in the Bulldogs' favor. The Lancers would not be able to get any closer with the Bulldogs picking up the six-point win. Sophomore Sonora Dengokl scored a career-best 20 points to lead three Bulldogs in double figures. Dengokl was 9-of-12 from the field overall and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. She also had five rebounds, three steals and one assist. Weaver picked up her fourth double-double of the season in the Bulldog win with 13 rebounds and 11 points. She picked up an impressive seven of her 13 rebounds on the offensive glass. The final Bulldog in double figures, junior guard Khaila Webb had 10 points in the Asheville win. Longwood was led in its loss by Khaila Hall's game-best 21 points. As a team, the Bulldogs finished their evening shooting 36.2 percent (21-of-58) as a team. Longwood shot 40.4 percent (23-for-57) from the field as a team in its loss to Asheville.

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 two more elite groups, becoming the 74th player in Big South history to eclipse the 600 rebound mark and the 50th player in league history to eclipse the 700 rebound mark.

BLOCK PARTY: KJ Weaver currently has 157 career blocks. That mark has her currently in the top-five in program history. This season, she has recorded multiple blocks in a game 17 times, including five in a row from Saturday, Feb. 4, through Saturday, Feb. 18. She had a season-high five blocked shots on Friday, Nov. 25 against Tennessee Tech.

1,000 CAREER POINTS: Chatori Major became the 106th Big South Conference player and 16th UNC Asheville women's basketball player to eclipse the 1,000-point mark in the Bulldogs' win over Winthrop on Feb. 21. The senior guard from Camp Lejeune, N.C., needed just five entering the game against Winthrop to hit the mark, and she accomplished that less than five minutes in. Major enters Sunday's game with 1,093 career points, 15th-most by a Bulldog.

SEEING DOUBLE: When 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. ended her playing career with 1,129 points, the 10th-most in program history.

SPARTANBURG SATURDAY SWEEP: The month of December featured two sraight Saturday wins for UNC Asheville over teams from Spartanburg, S.C. On Saturday, Dec. 10, the Bulldogs tallied an 84-65 win over Wofford at Kimmel Arena before picking up the 70-59 road win over USC Upstate on Saturday, Dec. 17.

FLIRTING WITH HISTORY: In UNC Asheville's resounding win over Wofford, Khaila Webb posted 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Webb just missed on a triple-double in the game as she also had eight rebounds and six assists to go along with her 22 points.

AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE FOR ALL: It was a historic day at Kimmel Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 29, as a record 2,257 were in the stands to witness UNC Asheville tally an impressive 113-51 win over Warren Wilson. The 113 points were the most scored by the Bulldogs in their NCAA Division I era.

KNUCKLES NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK (Nov. 21): Tianna Knuckles, a senior guard from Wendell, N.C., of the UNC Asheville women's basketball team was named the Big South Conference Player of the Week on Monday, Nov. 21. Knuckles set a career high 25 points, in 25 minutes played, in a victory over UNC Greensboro, going 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. She also grabbed two rebounds and was 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Knuckles also helped the Bulldogs defeat Western Carolina. She compiled seven points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block.

BULLDOGS SIGN PROMISING TRIO: Amaryah Corpening signed with the Bulldogs during the early signing period out of Freedom High School in Morganton, N.C. The 5-foot-6 guard has compiled quite the high school resume. Her junior year she was named to the 3A/4A All Tournament Team in North Carolina, as well as the 3A/4A All Conference Team. In the same season, she helped lead Freedom High School to a 32-0 record and a NCHSAA 3A State Championship. Off the court, Corpening is involved in a multitude of different academic arenas including, National Honor Society and Anchor Club. Armanii Grice signed with the Bulldogs out of Ridge View High School in Columbia, S.C. The 5-foot-9 guard will bring the Bulldogs size at the guard spot and a vast amount of experience on the court. Grice is a four-time All Region Player in the Columbia area and has steadily improved statistically in her first three years of high school. Her junior year, Grice averaged 15.2 ppg, nine apg and five rpg. Most recently, Grice was one of eight players named to the 2016-2017 SCBCA (South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association) Preseason Elite Girls Team. As a member of FCA, BETA Club, and the high school's drama club, Armanii is a well-rounded student as well as an exemplary athlete. Juliet Esadah signed with the Bulldogs out of Jones County Junior College. The 6-foot post is a native of Warri, in the Delta region of Nigeria. She comes from a family of 11 children, seven sisters and four brothers. Esadah came to the United States to complete her final two years of high school at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tenn. At Hamilton Heights, Juliet was able to not only elevate her game – climbing up the ESPN rankings, but she also elevated to the top of her class. Esadah graduated salutatorian or her class. She is interested in studying economics at UNC Asheville, with the hopes of giving back to her country of Nigeria. Giving back is something that Juliet is already familiar with. She is a member of A2S (Access 2 Success) which is the basketball/educational program that brought Esadah to the States. Undoubtedly, her addition will strengthen the athleticism of the Bulldog's front court, and her personal values will be a reflection of our current team.

WEAVER NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK (Nov. 14): KJ Weaver, a senior center on the women's basketball team, was named the Big South Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday, Nov. 14. Weaver was a rebound shy of a double-double in UNC Asheville's setback to ACC opponent Virginia Tech. The center dropped in 15 points on 6-for-10 from the field and also corralled nine rebounds to pace the Bulldogs in both categories. Her first 10 points came in the first half when Asheville held a 30-26 advantage after the opening 20 minutes.

CLEAR BAG POLICY: UNC Asheville athletics has introduced a new "clear bag" policy for its sporting events. The new guidelines have been put in place to maximize fan comfort and safety. Fans are encouraged to bring only necessary items to the game. Each ticketed attendee will be allowed to enter the Sherrill Center with one (1) clear plastic bag no larger than 12" x 6" x 12," or a one-gallon clear plastic bag. The only non-clear items that will be permitted are small clutch bags no larger than 4.5" x 6.5". An exception will be made for medically necessary items.

BULLDOGS PICKED ATOP BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL: The UNC Asheville women's basketball team was voted to finish top of the league for the first time in school history in the 2016 Big South Conference Preseason Poll. In addition, two Bulldogs picked up preseason conference honors in Chatori Major and Tianna Knuckles. The reigning 2015-16 Big South Conference Player of the Year and the Big South Conference Tournament MVP, Major was named the 2016-17 Preseason Player of the Year, while teammate Knuckles also earned preseason first-team All-Conference honors.

QUOTABLES
"Between the two teams, we've had three overtimes, so we've played a lot of basketball against each other. I think it's fitting (that preseason No. 1 and No. 2 are meeting in championship game), but that's not to say it couldn't have been anybody else in (the tournament), but I do think it's fitting. I think this will be a great game, a great championship. We're looking forward to it. Obviously this will be our fourth game (in tournament). It's something I've got to consider. It's an awesome feeling. I'm glad that we're going to have the opportunity to get a shot at the No. 1 team again. Mike's (McGuire) a great coach. He's going to have a great gameplan and we'll put something together and let the chips fall. It's going to be a fun day." - Head Coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Bulldogs Take On Radford in Big South Championship Game at 4 p.m. Sunday

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Sonora Dengokl

Bronaza Fitzgerald

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Zip Scott

Jessica Wall

KJ Weaver

Khaila Webb

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