Mike Gore's "40-for-40": Women's Basketball Big South Tournament Memories

The UNC Asheville women's basketball team is one of the most improved teams in the country this year. Asheville went from four wins last season to 12 this year.

The Bulldogs enter Thursday's tournament as the sixth seed and face off against third-seeded Longwood starting at 8:30 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament in Johnson City. It seems like a tough road to win a championship but all this year's Asheville team needs to look at is a team that nine years ago won four games in four days to claim its second straight Big South Conference Tournament title.

Much was expected from the 2016-17 Bulldog team. For the first time ever, the program was voted as the favorite to win the Big South Conference title. Asheville had stunned the experts a year earlier when picked ninth the Bulldogs captured their first-ever regular-season title and then won three games at Kimmel Arena to win the program's second Big South tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

But a tougher schedule and some serious injuries held the Bulldogs back for part of the year. Head Coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick knew it would be a tougher year and indeed it was. This was a first for the Asheville program to play the favorite and at times the Bulldogs struggled with that pressure.

The injuries were big ones. Starting guards Ja'da Brayboy and Tonisha Knuckles went down with knee injuries midway through the season. Asheville had depth but it was tough to replace two starters and Knuckles was the Bulldogs' leading scorer at the time.

After an up-and-down year, the Bulldogs began to find themselves late in the year. Wins in four or their last five games sent Asheville with some momentum entering the league tournament which was going to be held at Liberty University. One of the Bulldogs' late-season wins was a victory over the Flames and it marked Asheville's fourth straight win over Liberty. That had not happened very often in the past 20 years.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs had some tiebreakers go against them that sent them to the seventh seed and must play in the first round of the tournament against 11th-seeded Longwood.

Asheville had easily beaten Longwood twice during the year but the Lancers showed anything can happen in tournament play and took a 24-20 halftime lead. The Bulldogs rallied in the second half and had to work hard to produce a 65-59 win. Sophomore Sonora Dengokl saved Asheville with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field.

Next up was second-seeded Campbell. One of the reasons Asheville finished in seventh place was two close losses to the Camels during the year. Campbell had been the surprise team of the league during the year.

But the Bulldogs were a battle-hardened team. They were ready for the Camels and came after them right away. Asheville's defense shut down Campell's offense and the defending champions led 13-4 at the end of the first quarter and 29-21 at halftime.

Campbell would make runs at the Bulldogs in the second half but each time Asheville would turn them away as it rolled to a 64-55 victory.

Asheville was in the semifinals against sixth-seeded Presbyterian College. The Blue Hose had upset third-seeded High Point the day before and had knocked off the Bulldogs at Kimmel Arena a few weeks earlier.

The Bulldogs got off to a great start as they led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter and it looked like they would cruise into the championship game. PC rallied and took the lead in the fourth quarter and suddenly it seemed like it was ready to take control as it built a four-point lead on four different occasions.

Asheville would counter every time. The Bulldogs trailed 55-53 on their final possession. Asheville would get the ball into Bre Fitzgerald, who had scored the winning basket in last year's Big South championship game, would score to tie the game with 1.9 seconds remaining. She was fouled, as well. The 45-percent free throw shooter calmly made the free throw and Asheville won 56-55.

Bre was just getting warmed up.

The next day the Bulldogs would battle top-seeded Radford for the league championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Asheville was also trying to make history. No basketball team, men or women, had won four games in four days in the history of the Big South Conference.

Radford jumped on the Bulldogs early, scoring the first eight points of the game but calmly Asheville responded and tied the game early in the second quarter. This veteran Bulldog team refused to let fatigue stop them.

The Highlanders tried hard to put the game away but Asheville simply wouldn't let them. Finally midway through the fourth quarter, a surge by Radford put them up 48-41 with three minutes left.

The Bulldogs would not let Radford score again. Two buckets put Asheville within 48-45. Another with less than a minute to go narrowed the lead to 48-47. The Bulldogs' defense stopped the Highlanders again and incredibly Asheville had the ball with under 10 seconds left and a chance to take the lead for the first time in the game.

The ball would once again go to center Bre Fitzgerald. She powered inside and was fouled with 5.5 seconds left to go. This time the shot did not go in and Bre would have to make two free throws to give Asheville its first lead in the contest.

After multiple timeouts, Bre sank them both to give the Bulldogs a 49-48 lead.

There was still time as Radford used its final timeout to set up a possible game-winning shot. The Highlanders got two shots but missed them both and the Bulldogs had their second straight championship.

They may have been a seventh seed but the Bulldogs had earned this championship. Four wins in four days. All by less than 10 points with the semifinals and championship victories decided by one point in the final seconds.

Sonora was named MVP of the tournament with her outstanding play over the four days. Bre Fitzgerald made the All-Tournament team naturally for her clutch play.

This year's team is the sixth seed and may face an uphill climb to win the Big South Tournament championship but all they have to do is look back at a determined Bulldog team from 2017 to show that in tournament time anything can happen.

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Mike Gore's "40-for-40": Women's Basketball Big South Tournament Memories

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