Going Dancing: Far Exceeding Preseason Predictions
03.31.2020 | Women's Basketball
Share:
With the NCAA taking precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the 2020 NCAA Basketball Championships have been canceled. In lieu of March Madness, UNC Asheville and Big South Conference Hall of Famer Mike Gore will take Bulldog fans down memory lane, recounting each Asheville trip to The Big Dance.
There's a reason not to trust preseason polls.
And the UNC Asheville women's basketball team sure showed why in the 2015-2016 season.
The Big South preseason poll came out in October and had the Bulldogs picked eighth for the upcoming campaign.
That didn't come close to happening. Instead, Asheville had a season that will be remembered for as long as it plays basketball.
The Bulldogs wasted no time showing how inaccurate that poll was going to be. After a close 74-68 opening loss at Southern Conference power East Tennessee, Asheville rattled off nine straight wins. The Bulldogs won at Wofford, 70-63 to begin the streak. That victory ended a three-game losing streak to the Terriers. A week later, the Bulldogs visited mountain rival Western Carolina and stopped a six-game skid to the Cats with a decisive 67-45 triumph.
Big South Conference play would start early in the year and Asheville would have to go to Presbyterian College to open the season. The Blue Hose would also go on to have a historic campaign and the teams would battle hard three times throughout the year. But Asheville would simply have too much firepower for PC and took the game, 72-63. It was the Bulldogs' first win in Clinton in seven seasons.
UNC Greensboro came to Kimmel Arena in mid-December but the Bulldogs dispatched the Spartans handily by a margin of 95-52. Asheville would go to 2-0 in league play with another road win, this time dispatching Coastal Carolina, 63-52.
An Education Day crowd of more than 2,000 fans would see the Bulldogs get their ninth straight win: a hard-fought 84-71 victory over Furman. Asheville's victory over the Paladins raised its record to 9-1 and was easily the best start in school history. The Bulldogs were 2-0 in league play with both victories occurring on the road.
It was Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick Brown's fourth year at the helm in Asheville. Her program had been on the verge the past two seasons, picking up some good wins but not quite ready to compete for a championship. But now the Bulldogs had come together. During the nine-game winning streak, Asheville's closest win was a seven-point victory at Wofford where junior guard Tianna Knuckles scored 24 points and knocked down six 3-pointers.
Tianna Knuckles
But the Bulldogs were not a one-person team. Asheville could beat you both inside and outside. On the inside, juniors KJ Weaver, Tiffany Wilson and sophomore Bre Fitzgerald were doing a great job rebounding and playing good defense, plus adding scoring.
In the backcourt, the Bulldogs had a lot of weapons. Knuckles was having a great year, and junior Chatori Major was off to a great start. Senior Paige Love was doing whatever needed to be done to win games. Ja'Da Brayboy was playing great defense. Off the bench, sophomore Khaila Webb and freshmen Jessica Wall and Sonora Dengokl were giving Asheville valuable production.
The Bulldogs' win streak finally came to an end at Clemson right before Christmas. But the winning continued after the holidays. Major scored a career-high 28 points in a 63-55 win over Winthrop, Asheville's first over the Eagles in five years.
Next up was a date at Campbell. The Lady Camels had dominated Asheville since rejoining the Big South four years earlier, winning all eight meetings between the programs. Despite not having Weaver, the Bulldogs roared past Campbell 72-58 as Major tallied 17 points. Brayboy had 12 points, four assists and three steals.
Asheville would then have a challenge at Liberty. The Lady Flames were the defending Big South champions and had won 16 of the last 19 league titles. Any championship dream would have to go through Liberty.
For the first time during the season, the Bulldogs played a little nervously, bearing expectations of suddenly being the league favorite. After the Flames won 71-53, the Flames faithful believed that order had been restored in the conference.
They would find out there would be a new order in the league as the season played out. The Bulldogs won their next two, lost a two-point game to Gardner-Webb and then rattled off four more victories, including clutch road wins at Radford and Winthrop. Asheville showed its mettle in an overtime win over Coastal Carolina. Trailing by seven with two minutes left in regulation, Brayboy and Knuckles led a dramatic comeback that sent the game into overtime. Asheville would dominate in OT and win 77-69.
A win at Longwood pushed the Bulldogs' winning streak to six games and a rematch with Liberty. The teams entered the game tied for first place at 12-2.
Asheville's high-octane offense would be slowed down by Liberty on the day but the Bulldogs' defense would not let the Flames control the game like it had a month earlier. Asheville built a 12-point lead entering the final period. Liberty rallied but each time the Bulldogs would deny the Flames a tying bucket. One time it was a blocked shot by Knuckles. Another time Asheville drew a charge late in the game. The Bulldogs moved into first place all by themselves with a 56-51 win.
Asheville prevailed over Radford in its next game behind Major's 18 points and 14 rebounds from Weaver before the Bulldogs would be hit by some adversity.
A close loss at Gardner-Webb followed by a stunning Senior Day loss at home to Campbell put the Bulldogs in a tie with Liberty for first place.
Asheville bounced back with a decisive 91-68 win over Charleston Southern. The Bulldogs would end the regular season with a tough game with High Point.
The 2016 Big South Tournament was scheduled to be played at Coastal Carolina. But when the school year started, Coastal announced it was leaving the Big South and was headed to the Sun Belt Conference. There was no need to play a conference tournament there. Campbell stepped up and said it would host the men's tournament, while UNC Asheville stepped up to host the women's tournament. This change caused the women's season to go one week longer than originally scheduled.
In turn, it caused a scheduling conflict with Kimmel Arena for the game with High Point. The Southern Conference needed Kimmel to host its wrestling championship, so that would mean Justice Center would be site of the biggest regular-season game for the women's program in a long time. A win by the Bulldogs would give them at least a share of the regular-season title. If Asheville could win and Liberty lose at home to PC, it would give the Bulldogs the regular-season title plus be the top seed in the next week's conference tournament. Â Â
Asheville had edged High Point earlier in the year, 82-81. It was the Bulldogs first win over the Panthers in six years and ended a 13-game losing streak. In other words, this was not an ideal opponent to play while facing a must-win game.
The Bulldogs led 59-56 entering the final period. Asheville would show it was ready to win a championship. A rocking Justice Center crowd saw the home team outscore High Point 26-8 in the fourth quarter. Major would finish with 17 points, while Love with her steely determination would finish with 15 points. Webb came off the bench and tallied 14 points.
Chartori Major
As the final buzzer sounded, there was a buzz in the building not just because Asheville had won and clinched at least a tie for first place. Fans were following the PC-Liberty game in Lynchburg. Ronnie Fisher's team would spoil Senior Day in Lynchburg as the Blue Hose roared past the Flames, 57-49.
UNC Asheville was not just the regular-season champion but would be the top seed in the Big South Tournament at Kimmel Arena the following week.
And when the awards were announced a few days later, there were more reasons to be happy. Chatori Major was named Big South Player of the Year. Not bad for a player who as a freshman had not played very much. Knuckles earned second team All-Conference honors, while Love made the All-Academic team. Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick was a runaway choice for Big South Coach of the Year.
The tournament began for Asheville with a quarterfinal game with Campbell. The Camels had played the day before in the first round and knocked off Coastal Carolina at the buzzer. They had beaten the Bulldogs a few weeks earlier at Kimmel Arena.
How would a team like Asheville handle the pressure of a tournament game as a No. 1 seed? They had never been in the situation before.
The Bulldogs were so unnerved by the pressure that they raced to an early 14-2 lead. They led 23-11 at the end of the first quarter, 45-24 at halftime. So much for tournament jitters. Webb came off the bench to score 15 points, while Major added 14. Asheville roared to an easy 70-42 victory.
The semifinals would be another test with a dangerous Presbyterian squad. Ronnie Fisher's squad had showed its mettle throughout the season with two wins over Liberty. The Blue Hose battled the Bulldogs hard but trailed 39-36 entering the fourth quarter. Great teams turn to their great players in crunch time. Major took over the fourth quarter as she scored 10 of her 22 points to lead Asheville to a hard-fought 65-55 win.
The Bulldogs had advanced to the championship for the first time in nine years and just the third time in the program's history. Facing them would be the Big South's kingpin – Liberty. The Lady Flames were relishing the chance of knocking off Asheville on its home floor.
More than 2,000 fans jammed Kimmel Arena to see this title game. And they witnessed a classic. Liberty controlled the early part of the game with its height and rebounding. The Flames would led 30-23 at halftime.
But in the second half, the Bulldogs rallied behind Major. She scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half and overtime. Liberty would build a lead only to see Asheville make a play to tie the contest. Love hit a huge 3-pointer late in regulation to forge a tie.
Each team would have chances to win the championship in regulation but would misfire on shots. The game went to overtime and again each team had a chance to win late but couldn't get the go-ahead bucket.
In the second overtime period, the Bulldogs' defense held Liberty scoreless until a rebound bucket tied the game at 62-62.
After a timeout, Asheville got the ball to Major. With three Lady Flames converging on her on the baseline, she sent a perfect pass to Bre Fitzgerald in the lane. The sophomore calmly hit a short 5-footer to give the Bulldogs a 64-62 lead.
Liberty still had a chance to tie or win but the Bulldog defense, led by Weaver, forced the Flames to take a tough shot. Weaver would not let there be a second shot. She claimed the rebound with two seconds left and was fouled.
KJ missed them both but Liberty was out of timeouts and its last-second heave fell way short. And the celebration began! With fans pouring onto the floor, led by the men's basketball team, who had won their own championship a week earlier, the Bulldogs celebrated an incredible season and championship.
The victory was Asheville's 26th of the year. Not bad for a team picked to finish in eighth place when the year began. Major was named MVP, while Knuckles earned a spot on the All-Tournament team.
Asheville's season would end a week later as the Bulldogs fell to SEC power Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But the disappointment of that game could not diminish what Asheville had accomplished that season. The Bulldogs were the most improved team in the nation that year going from 9-22 to 26-7. The 26 wins was the second most in school history. It was a season that showed why not to believe preseason predictions.
Â
