University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women’s Basketball Makes History with Special Season Through Adversity
04.03.2017 | Women's Basketball
End of Season Notes
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Following a double-overtime road loss at Radford on Saturday, Feb. 25, head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick made a promise to her team. It was simple, but it was also bold.
"This is going to sound crazy, but I promised the team at Radford after the double-overtime loss, if – it was contingent on this big if – if they continued to work hard for each other, just like they did in that game, they would win a conference championship," Kirkpatrick said. "I looked at our two seniors that were there, KJ Weaver and Chatori Major, and I promised them that if they gave that same effort, what we had in that locker room was enough to win a conference championship."
Bold? Sure. Crazy? Not even close for a team that had just begun to peak at the right time despite injuries to key players that had plagued the Bulldogs for much of the season.
The 2016-17 Bulldogs entered the campaign, the fifth under Kirkpatrick's guidance, with a target squarely on their backs. They returned 12 players from a team that had won the program's first Big South Conference tournament crown since 2007 and first-ever regular-season title the year prior en route to the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Included in the 12 returners was the previous year's Big South Conference Player of the Year and Big South Championships Most Valuable Player in Chatori Major. UNC Asheville also returned three other program-changing seniors complemented by eight strong underclassmen who had now "been there before."
The respect of being chosen the preseason favorites could be understood, but with that respect came enormous pressure.
"I think instead of motivating, it just applied pressure to our team. You could see that kind of manifest itself early on in our non-conference schedule," Kirkpatrick said. "Yes, we were winning early, but I think it affected particular players, like Chatori for example who in addition to having team expectations had the expectation of being Player of the Year and preseason favorite for Player of the Year this year. So, I think it was how different individuals on the team were dealing with that and I don't know that it motivated us in a positive way. The players certainly weren't assuming that it was a done deal, but instead of pursuing, they were protecting and so that kind of played into how our early on non-conference schedule went."
The Bulldogs went 6-5 in the non-conference portion of their schedule, including winning four in a row from Monday, Nov. 14, at UNCG to Tuesday, Nov. 29, at home against Warren Wilson.
But the road to repeating as league champions quickly turned bumpy when injuries began to happen to key players. And it couldn't have come at a worse, or maybe better, time.
Just as the team was beginning to find its identity as a gritty squad that could find ways to win, the Bulldogs lost senior point guard Ja'Da Brayboy and senior shooting guard Tianna Knuckles to season-ending injuries. On top of that, the Bulldogs lost junior guard Khaila Webb for a stretch at the beginning of conference play, forcing Kirkpatrick and staff, as well as the team, to find a new identity.
"Unfortunately, as soon as we were shifting gears and becoming a more gritty and tough team, we had the injuries and so we were having to reshape again," said Kirkpatrick. "It really took the entirety of our non-conference schedule to find our identity and once we found it, boom we lose these players. Had we not lost Tianna, Ja'Da and Khaila, it wouldn't have given Chatori an opportunity to lead on the court as well as continue to develop as a leader off of the court. That's when her confidence skyrocketed."
With Major embracing an expanded role, KJ Weaver coming into her own as one of the most dominating forces in the conference down low and younger players, like Sonora Dengokl, stepping up, UNC Asheville dove into Big South Conference action. The Bulldogs went 5-4 through the first half of the league slate and were squarely in the hunt for a top-four position in the league well into the latter portion of the season, but it was a late-season surge that will be remembered for years to come.
Beginning on Saturday, Feb. 18, to the end of the season, the Bulldogs dropped just two games. One was the double-overtime road game at Radford that set up that near prophetic promise from Coach Mock in late February. The other was the last game of the season, a loss to the national champion South Carolina Gamecocks.
"(Our staff) kept telling them, 'Build momentum with each game,'" Kirkpatrick said. "Even going into the tournament, we had to go from Longwood to Campbell and build on that. From Campbell to Presbyterian, take some more momentum. From Presbyterian to Radford, take some more momentum and just be playing our best basketball at the end of the year. We as a coaching staff assured them that you want to be the team that is getting better. We felt like some teams may have been plateauing while we were still getting better. The team really owned that and were convinced that the talent we had was enough, even with the injuries, and we knew that we were battle tested and I told them that, 'Some teams say they're battle tested, but there's no way they've been as battle tested as you have been.' They believed that and continued to work. We told them to continue to build momentum don't focus on the results, believe and work hard and you will get it. And they did."
UNC Asheville closed out the season on an 8-2 run in the final 10 games, including four wins in four days to capture the Big South Conference crown. It was the first time a team had ever accomplished the feat to win the league title. The Bulldogs also became the first seven-seed to win the Big South Women's Championship crown.
In the tournament stretch, the Bulldogs won their first round game against No. 10 Seed Longwood and followed that up by toppling second-seeded Campbell the next day. In the semifinal round, the seventh-seeded Bulldogs defeated Presbyterian and capped their amazing run with a one-point victory over top-seeded Radford, earning their second-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Even though the season ended with a lopsided loss to the national champions in Columbia, S.C., Coach Mock is still smiling and is as excited as she ever has been for what is to come.
"I think we know better now how to deal with success," Kirkpatrick said. "Looking back on our season, we have a lot of little nuggets to look at, examine and to learn from. What can we do better in this off-season to really maximize what we have and to really get ready mentally and physically for what's to come? There's a lot to build off of here to where we'll have just enough confidence but also just enough humility to understand that, yes we won the tournament but as a seven-seed and that's a tough thing to do. What can we do to not be in that position next year?
"I think we have a great nucleus to build on with two seniors in Khaila Webb and Bree Fitzgerald coming back," Kirkpatrick continued. "They were really integral parts of our championship run this year. Khaila scored 16 points against Radford, Bree hit the game-winners in back-to-back games and those are our seniors. Then you throw in Sonora Dengokl, the MVP of the Big South Tournament, and other players who have really matured this year. This is the most excited I've been going into an off-season in my entire coaching career."
