Celebrating 90 Years - Looking Back on UNC Asheville's Historic Title-Clinching Win

The UNC Asheville women's basketball team hosts High Point in its Big South Conference home opener at Kimmel Arena on Saturday, Jan. 6. Let's look back at a memorable Bulldog-Panther game from a few years ago.

The most important Big South Conference regular-season home game for the UNC Asheville women's basketball team wasn't played on its homecourt.

Two years ago, the Bulldogs were marching toward a potential first ever regular-season title. They would end the regular season with a home game against a solid High Point squad. But instead of playing at Kimmel Arena, Asheville would have to play at its old home – Justice Center. Justice had been the home of the Bulldogs from the inception of the program until 2011. Both the men's and women's basketball teams used Justice on occasions for practice, but Kimmel Arena was now the home of the Bulldogs.

But there was a good reason that this was happening. The Big South men's and women's tournament was originally supposed to be held at Coastal Carolina the weekend of the High Point game. But when Coastal decided to leave the Big South for the Sun Belt Conference, the league took the tournament out of Coastal and decided to have two tournaments in two locations. Campbell was awarded the men's tournament, while Kimmel Arena would host the women's tournament the weekend after the High Point game.

To accomplish all this, the women's schedule was readjusted and a High Point game that was scheduled for Feb. 27 would now be played on March 5. Kimmel Arena was scheduled to host the Southern Conference Wrestling Tournament on March 5.

"I got the call from Janet R. Cone (UNC Asheville's Athletic Director) about moving the game to Justice, and I agreed right away," remembered head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick. "We were very excited about hosting the Big South Tournament and this seemed to be a good trade-off."

What made the game so important is that the Bulldogs were tied with Liberty for first place in the Big South. Both Asheville and LU were 13-4 going into the final game of the regular season. Kirkpatrick's club was having a dream season. Picked to finish eighth in the league's preseason poll, the Bulldogs had been one of college basketball's biggest surprises that year. Earlier in the season, Asheville had won nine straight games to jump out to a 9-1 record and came into the High Point game with a 22-6 overall record. It was easily the best record for the program in over 30 years and was the best mark since going Division I in 1986.

The Bulldogs would finish the regular season in the Justice Center against High Point, while Liberty would host its Senior Day at home against an improved Presbyterian College club.

"We practiced all week in Justice to help prepare us. Our seniors, Paige Love and Tyler Smith, knew what was at stake but the rest of our team just treated it like any other game," commented Kirkpatrick. "Our players were really looking forward to playing at Justice Center.

"I wasn't worried about what would happen at Liberty. I just wanted us to win our game and get at least a share of the regular-season title," added Kirkpatrick. "That would mean so much to our program. Paige and Tyler had gone through a 2-28 season my first year and we had been 9-22 the previous season."

Getting a share of the regular-season title would not be easy. The Bulldogs had edged High Point a month earlier 82-81 on a last-second free throw from Khaila Webb. The victory was Asheville's first over the Panthers in seven years.

The game was like a tournament contest. Each team fought hard with the Panthers taking a 17-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Bulldogs would roar back late in the second quarter as they used a 9-2 run in the final two minutes of the period to sprint to a 39-30 lead.

Unknown to Kirkpatrick and her club, Presbyterian was giving Liberty fits inside the Vines Center and had built a lead. If the Bulldogs could hold on in the second half and the Blue Hose could do the same in Lynchburg, the regular-season title would belong to Asheville alone.

In the third period, High Point would rally and quickly tie the game on a long three-pointer at 42-42. Back and forth, the teams would trade big shot after big shot. Two free throws from Tianna Knuckles would give the home team a 59-56 lead entering the final quarter.

"It was an absolute battle for three quarters. Both teams played their hearts out," remembered Kirkpatrick.

But the fourth quarter would belong to the Bulldogs. Asheville's defense would turn up the heat and Love would hit a crucial three-pointer that help propel the Bulldogs on a 14-4 run that would pad the lead to 73-60 with four minutes left. High Point would get no closer.

"Our players had incredible resolve in the fourth quarter. They were so determined to find a way to win, and we just started to pull away," explained Kirkpatrick. "I was really pleased with the way we played, especially in that final quarter.

"One of my most memorable moments from that day was subbing Paige Love out of the game when we had the game won. She hugged me and I was so happy for her. The moment brings tears to my eyes to this day," added Kirkpatrick. "We were also able to get Tyler Smith in the game. She didn't play much but was such an important leader. I remember her scoring which really made the day special."

It was about to get more special.

"As we won the game and went through the line shaking hands, I wasn't thinking about what was happening at Liberty," added Kirkpatrick. "Dee Pennix (High Point coach) gave me a big hug and congratulated me on what we had accomplished. We were picked to finish eighth and now would have a share of the regular-season title. I was ready to celebrate that accomplishment."

With the advent of modern communication, it seemed everybody in Justice Center was following the Liberty-PC game.

"People were waving at me to come over and look at their phones. I wasn't sure what was happening when Terri Brne (UNC Asheville's Associate Athletics Director) came running up to me to show that PC was winning late at Liberty," said Kirkpatrick.

"We stopped celebrating for a minute to see what was happening at Liberty. We waited a few minutes and watched PC beat Liberty which allowed us to win the regular-season title by ourselves," added Kirkpatrick.

"I had never coached a game in Justice or played a game in Justice. I had visited it when I was in high school on a recruiting trip but it just seemed fitting for us to win that title in Justice," Kirkpatrick said. "It helped make the day even more memorable.

"Getting the number one seed was very important for us and really helped us the next week when we would host the conference tournament," she also said.

The Bulldog win and Liberty loss would give Asheville its first ever Big South Conference regular-season title and the number one seed in the league tournament that would commence the following weekend at Kimmel.

The magic of the season would continue when Bulldogs would win the conference tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years. We'll talk about another exciting game that won a championship just eight days later in a few weeks.

**In celebration of UNC Asheville's 90th anniversary, Hall of Famer Mike Gore will look back on important moments in athletics department history over the course of the 2017-18 athletic year**

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Celebrating 90 Years - Looking Back on UNC Asheville's Historic Title-Clinching Win

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