University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Monday, March 8
Farmville, VA
7 p.m.
UNC Asheville
10-15,9-10Big South
69
at
83
Longwood
14-10,12-6Big South
1
2
3
4
F
UNC Asheville
15
12
17
25
69
Longwood
21
17
24
21
83
Photo by: Mike Kropf
Asheville’s season comes to an end at Longwood in the Big South Quarterfinals
03.08.2021 | Women's Basketball
Story Courtesy of Mike Gore
FARMVILLE, Va. – Third-seeded Longwood placed four players in double figures as the Lancers downed sixth-seeded UNC Asheville 83-69 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tournament at Willet Hall Monday night.
Sophomore guard Kai Carter enjoyed a stellar performance for the Bulldogs with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Abigail Wilson and Amaryah Corpening added 10 points each.
The Bulldogs ended the season with a 10-15 overall record. Longwood, enjoying its best season since moving to Division I 15 years ago, improved to 14-10 and will take on second-seeded Campbell on Thursday night in the semifinals of the tournament.
The Lancers were led by Kyla McMakin with 19 points, while Tra'dayja Smith finished with 18 points. Senior forward Akilia Smith, the Big South Defensive Player of the Year, had a spectacular game with 16 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and four blocked shots. Anne Leroy contributed 16 points.
Longwood had a great night shooting from the field as the home team went 29-of-55 for 53 percent and sank 19-of-23 free throws to finish at 83 percent. Asheville shot just 32 percent from the field (25-of-77) and 30 percent (9-of-30) from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs trailed 57-36 late in the third quarter before making a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to close the Lancer leads to 10 points at 62-52 on a Faith Adams' three-pointer at the 6:38 mark of the final period. Asheville scored the first eight points of the quarter to get within striking distance of the home team.
But Longwood got a three-point play from Leroy on the next possession to push the lead back to 13 at 65-52. The Bulldogs could get no closer than 13 the rest of the way as the Lancers went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the final quarter to keep Asheville at bay.
Asheville's pressure defense caused havoc with the Longwood offense as the Bulldogs forced eight Lancer turnovers in the fourth period but could only score five points off those miscues.
Honey Brown's club forced 21 Longwood turnovers on the night and scored 21 points off them.
The Bulldogs controlled the first part of the first quarter by hitting five of its first six shots to roar to a 13-4 lead as Carter tallied eight points in the first four minutes of the contest. But Asheville didn't score in the final five minutes of the period allowing Longwood to score the final 11 points of the quarter that allowed the Lancers to take a 21-15 lead.
In the second quarter, Carter scored a layup that cut the Longwood lead to 33-27 at the 4:10 mark, but the Bulldogs did not score again. The Lancers tallied the quarter's final five points to take a 38-27 halftime lead, with Leroy scoring the final bucket with 10 seconds left, allowing Longwood to take a double-digit lead at halftime.
Asheville was ice cold from the field in the second period shooting 20 percent (5-of-20), while Longwood connected on 57 percent (8-of-14) of its shots from the field. Akila Smith paced the Lancer offense with eight points in the quarter.
Longwood went on a 15-2 run early in the third quarter to build a 20-point lead. The Lancers got points from five different players to take a 52-32 lead midway through the period.
The Bulldogs made a late run in the quarter to close the gap to 57-44 as Wilson and Carter combined to score eight straight points. But the Lancers scored five points in the final 15 seconds, including a back-breaking three-pointer from Leroy to give Longwood a 62-44 lead entering the fourth quarter.
The loss marks the first time the Asheville program has not won at least one game in the tournament since the 2013 tourney. The Bulldogs had produced a 13-4 record in Big South tournament action since 2014. Asheville had won two Big South tournament championships and one runner-up finish during that time. The 13-4 mark is the best mark by any league team during that stretch.
FARMVILLE, Va. – Third-seeded Longwood placed four players in double figures as the Lancers downed sixth-seeded UNC Asheville 83-69 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tournament at Willet Hall Monday night.
Sophomore guard Kai Carter enjoyed a stellar performance for the Bulldogs with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Abigail Wilson and Amaryah Corpening added 10 points each.
The Bulldogs ended the season with a 10-15 overall record. Longwood, enjoying its best season since moving to Division I 15 years ago, improved to 14-10 and will take on second-seeded Campbell on Thursday night in the semifinals of the tournament.
The Lancers were led by Kyla McMakin with 19 points, while Tra'dayja Smith finished with 18 points. Senior forward Akilia Smith, the Big South Defensive Player of the Year, had a spectacular game with 16 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and four blocked shots. Anne Leroy contributed 16 points.
Longwood had a great night shooting from the field as the home team went 29-of-55 for 53 percent and sank 19-of-23 free throws to finish at 83 percent. Asheville shot just 32 percent from the field (25-of-77) and 30 percent (9-of-30) from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs trailed 57-36 late in the third quarter before making a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to close the Lancer leads to 10 points at 62-52 on a Faith Adams' three-pointer at the 6:38 mark of the final period. Asheville scored the first eight points of the quarter to get within striking distance of the home team.
But Longwood got a three-point play from Leroy on the next possession to push the lead back to 13 at 65-52. The Bulldogs could get no closer than 13 the rest of the way as the Lancers went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the final quarter to keep Asheville at bay.
Asheville's pressure defense caused havoc with the Longwood offense as the Bulldogs forced eight Lancer turnovers in the fourth period but could only score five points off those miscues.
Honey Brown's club forced 21 Longwood turnovers on the night and scored 21 points off them.
The Bulldogs controlled the first part of the first quarter by hitting five of its first six shots to roar to a 13-4 lead as Carter tallied eight points in the first four minutes of the contest. But Asheville didn't score in the final five minutes of the period allowing Longwood to score the final 11 points of the quarter that allowed the Lancers to take a 21-15 lead.
In the second quarter, Carter scored a layup that cut the Longwood lead to 33-27 at the 4:10 mark, but the Bulldogs did not score again. The Lancers tallied the quarter's final five points to take a 38-27 halftime lead, with Leroy scoring the final bucket with 10 seconds left, allowing Longwood to take a double-digit lead at halftime.
Asheville was ice cold from the field in the second period shooting 20 percent (5-of-20), while Longwood connected on 57 percent (8-of-14) of its shots from the field. Akila Smith paced the Lancer offense with eight points in the quarter.
Longwood went on a 15-2 run early in the third quarter to build a 20-point lead. The Lancers got points from five different players to take a 52-32 lead midway through the period.
The Bulldogs made a late run in the quarter to close the gap to 57-44 as Wilson and Carter combined to score eight straight points. But the Lancers scored five points in the final 15 seconds, including a back-breaking three-pointer from Leroy to give Longwood a 62-44 lead entering the fourth quarter.
The loss marks the first time the Asheville program has not won at least one game in the tournament since the 2013 tourney. The Bulldogs had produced a 13-4 record in Big South tournament action since 2014. Asheville had won two Big South tournament championships and one runner-up finish during that time. The 13-4 mark is the best mark by any league team during that stretch.
Team Stats
UNC-A
LWU
FG%
.325
.527
3FG%
.300
.375
FT%
.769
.826
RB
32
49
TO
11
23
STL
8
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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