UNC Asheville To Play for Third Straight Championship
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Third-seeded UNC Asheville women's basketball will play for its third consecutive Big South Conference Women's Basketball Championship title after besting second-seeded Radford, 60-50, in the semifinals on Saturday, March 10. Third-seeded UNC Asheville (17-14) will play top-seeded Liberty (23-9) in the championship game at the Vines Center at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 11. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3. UNC Asheville enters the championship game having won nine straight Big South Tournament games.
BOX SCORE
POSTGAME REACTION
The Bulldogs opened the game by scoring nine of the first 13 points with Asheville leading 9-4 after a Zip Scott jumper with 4:51 left in the first quarter.
Radford (23-8) would own a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field as a team in the opening quarter of action.
The Bulldogs would tie things up at 13-all after a Khaila Webb putback with 8:22 remaining in the second quarter. Asheville would trail by just one at 22-21 with under three minutes left in the second quarter after Webb completed a three-point play.
UNC Asheville would take the lead at 23-22 after a Bronaza Fitzgerald jumper with 2:23 left on the clock in the first half.
The two teams would enter intermission with Radford holding a narrow 26-25 lead.
The Bulldogs shot 45.8 percent (11-of-24) as a team in the first half, while Radford shot 43.5 percent (10-of-23) as a team.
The second half would commence with Fitzgerald scoring to give the Bulldogs a 27-26 lead.
The bucket would be part of an 11-3 run to start the second half for UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs owned a 36-29 lead after a Webb jumper with 5:42 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs held Radford scoreless for well over three minutes during the stretch.
UNC Asheville would go on to outscore Radford, 17-10, in the third quarter to take a 42-36 lead into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs shot 57.1 percent (8-of-14) in the third quarter.
Radford would start the fourth quarter on a 4-0 run, but the Bulldogs would respond with a 6-0 run of their own to extend their lead to 48-40 after a Webb midrange jumper with 6:53 to play in the contest.
Webb would extend UNC Asheville's lead to double digits after completing a three-point play with 2:38 left in the game.
The Bulldogs would control things from their in their eventual 10-point win.
Webb ended the Bulldog win with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting. She was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Webb also had three assists, two rebounds and one steal.
Fitzgerald finished the semifinal win over Liberty with 13 rebounds and 11 points. The double-double is her 15th double-double this season and the 19th of her career.
Ali Trani was the final Bulldog in double figures with 10 points.