University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Women’s Basketball Opens League Action on Saturday at Radford
01.04.2019 | Women's Basketball
Game Notes
2018-19 UNC Asheville Women's Basketball Media Guide
THE MATCHUP
Teams: UNC Asheville (5-6, 0-0 Big South)
Radford (6-5, 0-0 Big South)
Location: Radford, Va. (Dedmon Center)
Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 5 / 2 p.m.
Live Stream: BSN on ESPN+
Live Stats: radfordathletics.com
Twitter: @UNCAvlWBB #ThePursuit
RADFORD, Va. – To open Big South Conference action, the UNC Asheville women's basketball team travels to Radford for a head-to-head matchup with the Highlanders on Saturday, Jan. 5 inside the Dedmon Center.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and will be streamed on BSN on ESPN+.
BULLDOG BITES
About UNC Asheville
UNC Asheville opens league play with a 5-6 overall mark, and in their last five games, the Bulldogs are a respectable 2-3 with wins over Warren Wilson and ETSU.
In last week's game at Mercer, UNC Asheville fell to the Bears, 61-47. UNC Asheville scored 35 of its 47 points in the first and fourth quarters. Big South Preseason First Team selection Jessica Wall paced Asheville with 15 points, as 12 of those points came in the final 10 minutes of play. Overall, she made five 3-pointers and grabbed four rebounds. Zip Scott and Nadiria Evans each added seven points, as they also combined for six made field goals. Sonora Dengokl contributed six points, and Tiffany Wilson was Asheville's leading rebounder with seven boards.
On the year, Dengokl and Evans continue to lead the offense, as they are each averaging double-digits. Dengokl has a team-high 13.6 points per game, as she has been in double-figures seven times this year. Evans is averaging 10.2 points per game, as she has scored 112 points during her sophomore campaign.
Brooke Jordan-Brown paces the Bulldogs on the boards, as the junior has grabbed 4.5 rebounds per contest. Trani is right behind her teammate with 3.9 boards per game.
Dengokl and Scott are tied for the team lead in steals with 15 each, and Dengokl and Wall are also tied for the team lead with 21 assists each.
Scouting Radford
Radford hosts UNC Asheville with a 6-5 overall record and a 3-1 mark in games inside the Dedmon Center. In its last nine games, Radford has only played two at home - a seven-point loss to Morehead State and a 14-point win over Shepherd.
Savannah Felgemacher, who has only started seven games this year, is the Highlanders' leading scorer with 14.6 points per game. The redshirt junior has 102 points this year and averages 31.7 minutes per game. She is grabbing a team-best 12.6 rebounds per game and has the second-most offensive rebounds on the team with 28.
Destinee Walker is the team's second-leading scorer with 13.5 points per game. She has totaled a team-high 149 points in 11 starts. Averaging 35.5 minutes per game, Walker is shooting .348 percent from the field and has a team-high 28 assists.
Behind Felgemacher, Lydia Rivers has the second-most rebounds, as the redshirt junior averages 9.1 boards per game. She has started all 11 games and is shooting .398 percent from the hardwood. Rivers leads the team with 16 blocks this year.
All-Time History Versus the Highlanders
Saturday's contest will mark the 76th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Highlanders.
Last year the two clubs met three times, including a 60-50 Bulldog victory in the Big South Conference Tournament semifinal. In the 10-point win, Khaila Webb had a game-high 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting. Bronaza Fitzgerald and Trani also scored in double-digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
In last year's game inside the Dedmon Center, the Bulldogs claimed another double-digit victory over the Highlanders, 67-56. Webb scored 20 points, while Wall and Fitzgerald combined for 27 points and 10 made field goals. Fitzgerald ended the game with a double-double, as she also grabbed 10 rebounds.
BARKING ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
CONTE EARNS PRESTIGIOUS NCAA POSTGRADUATE INTERNSHIP: A senior swimming and diving student-athlete, Elizabeth Conte will get to live out her passion with her new opportunity as one of just 30 to receive a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Internship. The Chapel Hill, N.C. native will be working in NCAA Division I governance as part of her postgraduate internship. To learn more, please visit HERE.
NEW STRATEGIC PLAN: UNC Asheville athletics officially unveiled its newest strategic plan on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The strategic plan entitled "Believe. Achieve. Thrive." is the road map for UNC Asheville athletics over the course of the next five years. The strategic plan outlines key areas of focus and growth in developing lifetime leaders from the most valuable resource that UNC Asheville athletics has in its student-athletes. To learn more about the strategic plan, please visit HERE (PDF).
NATIONAL CHAMPS: The nationally second-ranked UNC Asheville men's tennis doubles duo of Oli Nolan and Henry Patten secured a national championship on Sunday, Nov. 11, with a 6-2, 6-1 win over nationally 42nd-ranked Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn of Texas Tech in the championship match of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. In addition to the national championship win, Patten was also voted by the ITA Officials at the event to receive the Sportsmanship Award for the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. The championship match win for Nolan and Patten was part of a tremendous fall of 2018 for the pairing. Nolan and Patten went undefeated playing together during the fall and won three titles including the national championship.
MORE THAN MAKING THE GRADE: For the 2017-18 athletic year, the UNC Asheville student-athletes showed their commitment to the classroom by finishing the academic year with a combined grade-point average of 3.142. Impressively, 72 percent (161 of 223) UNC Asheville student-athletes during the 2017-18 athletic year received Athletic Director Honor Roll recognition with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
TWO-TIME SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: For the second time in his career, UNC Asheville senior Blanton Gillespie was selected as a Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gillespie was chosen as the 2018 Big South Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the Big South Cross Country Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting and UCS at the Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex on Friday, Oct. 26. The honor is just the latest for Gillespie, who was named the 2018 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in May of 2018.
BIG SOUTH WOMAN OF THE YEAR: UNC Asheville graduate Kayli Nichols was selected as the 2017-18 Big South Conference Woman of the Year. With degrees in German and Political Science and a minor in Spanish, Nichols graduated from UNC Asheville with a GPA of 3.974. During her senior campaign, she was named the Big South Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Big South Indoor Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
BIG SOUTH MALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: On the same day that he started his new full-time position in the Corporate Analyst Development Program at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Columbus, Ohio on July 11, 2018, former UNC Asheville men's basketball standout Kevin Vannatta was chosen as the 2017-18 Big South Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In addition to winning the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the conference, Vannatta was also chosen as the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's basketball and as the Big South Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Upper Arlington, Ohio native was also selected to the 2017-18 Academic All-America® NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). An Accounting major at UNC Asheville, Vannatta graduated with a 3.94 grade-point average.
How To Follow The Game Live
The game at Radford will be streamed on BSN on ESPN+, and the streaming link can be found by clicking HERE. Live stats will also be available, and the link can be found by clicking HERE.
What's Next?
After four straight road games, the Bulldogs return to the friendly confines of Kimmel Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Asheville will square off with first-year Big South member Hampton. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on BSN on ESPN+.
Players Mentioned
