Celebrating 90 Years - Looking Back on the 1998 Big South Women's Basketball Tournament

The UNC Asheville women's basketball team will go for its third straight title this weekend when it begins play in the Big South Conference Tournament at Liberty University.

If the Bulldogs can get past Campbell in the quarterfinal on Friday, they'll be hoping to work on a long winning streak in the semifinals.

Asheville has won its last five Big South tournament semifinal appearances, which is a streak that started 20 years ago in 1998.

The Bulldogs entered the 1998 tourney without much history on their side. Asheville won the NAIA national title in 1984 but struggled from the start when it came to women's basketball as it began play in the Big South in 1985. The Bulldogs snuck into the semifinals in their first year of tournament play in 1987 but lost to Radford. The defeat to the Highlanders began a streak of 11 losses in their next 12 BSC tournament games. A first-round win over Charleston Southern in 1994 was the only victory by the Asheville program in tournament play over an 11-year period.

And things didn't seem like they would change in 1998. The Bulldogs, under first-year coach Kathleen Weber, had struggled for most of the season. Weber hadn't been hired until the summer due to the school having to dismiss former coach Ray Ingram.

The Bulldogs had been competitive under Weber but lost a lot of close games. The league had been dominated by Liberty in 1997-98. Rick Reeves' Flames had won their first championship a year earlier and were really good this season. They were unbeaten throughout the year, rolling through the Big South and a soft non-conference schedule. LU was 26-0 entering the tourney.

Asheville entered the tournament as a sixth seed and with a 5-22 overall record. First up, was a date with third-seeded Coastal Carolina. The Bulldogs had split with the Chanticleers during the year. Coastal was guided by former ETSU men's coach Alan LeForce, and he had found a great player in then freshman guard Brooke Wiesbrod.

Coach Weber had Asheville ready to play and led for most of the game until a late CCU run put the Chants in front, 64-63. After a Bulldog miss, Weisbrod sank a long three-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give Coastal a 67-63 lead with 50 seconds left. It appeared once again Asheville would come close but not have enough to get the win. This had happened a lot during the year, especially in league play.

But the Bulldogs would not go down easily. Senior guard Amy Freed, playing the basketball of her career, knocked down a trey cutting the lead to 67-66 with 20 seconds left.

Asheville quickly fouled, and the Chanticleers would miss the front-end of a one-and-one. Candi Credito claimed the rebound. The Bulldogs hit the frontcourt and gave the ball to talented sophomore guard named Emily Hill. Hill would quickly drive the basket and was fouled with 7.7 seconds remaining. Ironically, it would be the same end of the court that would see Bre Fitzgerald hit the winning free throws to win the Big South Tournament 19 years later in 2017.

Hill later said her knees were shaking and she was pretty nervous. It sure didn't look it as she knocked down the free throws to give Asheville a 68-67 lead.

CCU called a timeout with 5.5 seconds remaining to set up for a final shot. It went to Weisbrod but her 20-footer was long and the Bulldogs were in the semifinals for the first time in 11 years.

Standing in Asheville's way was former conference kingpin Radford in the semifinals. The Highlanders ruled the early days of the Big South in women's basketball. RU had ended Asheville's season in two of the previous three seasons, including a 30-point romp in 1996 that saw the Highlanders run up the score late in the contest. They had won eight of the first nine BSC championships before falling to UNC Greensboro in the semifinals the previous year. Everyone was already looking forward to a Radford-Liberty championship game. The old champ against the new champion.

Asheville was determined to rewrite the script. The Bulldogs had lost heartbreakers to Radford earlier in the year as each loss was by just one point. In the second loss, Hill hadn't played.

And Hill was ready to rewrite the script herself. She was on fire from the start hitting three-pointers and scoring on drives to the basket. A stunned Radford squad, fully expecting to win easily, was behind from the start. Asheville would also get big contributions from forward Elisa Fellers and guard Amy Freed. Center Candi Credito would play great defense and seem to grab every rebound.

Leading by two points with a minute remaining, Radford had a chance to tie but Credito would block a Highlander attempt and grab the rebound. Hill would take over as she scored on a 15-footer and then added free throws on the next possession. She would score 27 points and was easily the best player on the floor that afternoon.

The win propelled Asheville into the Big South title game against unbeaten Liberty. Facing a sell-out crowd at Liberty's Vines Center, the Bulldogs battled the Flames for 40 minutes, but foul trouble would plague Hill in the first half and two scoring droughts in each half would doom Asheville. Liberty would win 68-56 and finish the season unbeaten.

But Hill's play would not be forgotten. Liberty had four players on the all-tournament team, but the MVP came from Asheville as Hill would earn the honors. This was only the second time in conference history that the MVP of the tournament would not come from the winning team.

And the win over Radford would start a trend for Asheville women's basketball. The Bulldogs have won their last five semifinal tournament games, going into this weekend's action. And it all started in 1998.

**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 the 1998 Big South Women's Basketball Tournament

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