SPORTS
Photo by Brian Vu - Staff Photographer
Women’s Basketball beats No. 1 in Big South
Alex Stradford
astradfo@unca.edu - Staff Wrifer
With only 7 seconds left in
overtime, freshman guard
Ja’Da Brayboy pushed the
UNC Asheville Bulldogs
to victory over the Liberty
Flames.
Brayboy stole the ball only
to be fouled by Liberty’s Emily
Friazer. She made the next two
free throws to push the Bull
dogs 83-80 in overtime.
“I went for it, got the steal
and made the play,” Brayboy
said. “It was a great team effort
and a great team win.”
After 17 seasons the LfNC
Asheville Bulldogs finally up
set Liberty’s five-game win
ning streak.
“It was a great win and it’s a
great confidence builder,” said
Brenda Kirkpatrick, Ashe
ville’s head coach. “All along
we having been telling them,
‘We believe in you, but you got
to believe in yourselves,’ and
I think this win will reinforce
that belief.”
Asheville nearly tripled Lib
erty in 3-pointers, with guard
Shonese Jones accounting for
12 of Asheville’s 3-point shots.
“One of the strategies com
ing into the game was to
take away the post, but if we
couldn’t do that then we were
at least going to take away their
3-point shots,” Jones said.
According to Kirkpatrick,
the Bulldogs’ strategy focused
on upsetting Liberty’s rhythm
and keeping the defensive
pressure high.
“We didn’t do a great job of
keeping them out of the paint,
but we did contest most of the
three point shots.” Kirkpatrick
said.
In order to much up against
the size of the Liberty players,
Asheville matched their height
with two taller players on the
post, Kirkpatrick said.
“Normally we don’t have
Leah Wormack playing with
KJ Weaver. They sub in and
out for each other, and we had
them playing together some,
or playing Rachel McGirt
and Leah Wormack together,”
Kirkpatrick said, “So we were
playing our big line up at the
post position to try and counter
some of that size.”
Liberty upped Asheville with
49 total rebounds. The Bull
dogs made up in speed what
they lacked in height and re
bounds to score 7 points of fast
breaks, as opposed to Liberty’s
one sole fast break point.
“We knew we had to attack
them in transition because
they’re big and not as mobile,”
said Paige Love, sophomore
guard.
“We capitalized on offense,”
Jones said. “We only had seven
turnovers, so we held posses
sion of the ball.”
According to Jones, Kirkpat
rick encouraged the Bulldogs
to use their speed advantage
to attack. As a direct result,
Asheville scored 15 points off
Liberty’s 17 turnovers. Being
disciplined and forcing the
turnovers was key in winning
the game, according to Kirk
patrick.
“By forcing Liberty to have
so many turnovers, we were
able to keep possession of the
ball and limit their posses
sion,” Love said.
With less than two minutes
less in overtime Liberty’s
high scorer, Ashley Rininger
fouled out. However, Ashe
ville’s game plan did not
change according to Love.
Six of Asheville’s players
scored in the double digits,
whereas only four of Lib
erty’s players scored in the
double digits.
Jones led Asheville with
17 points, which accounted
for most of the 3-pointers.
Brayboy followed with 16
points and Love added 14
points. Freshman guard Ti-
anna Knuckles attributed to
12 of the points. Weaver and
Brittany Gwyn both added 10
points each.
See BIG WIN on page 8
Men’s
Tennis
defeats
Mars Hill
Lance Hickey
lhickey@unca.edu - Staff Writer
The UNC Asheville men’s
tennis team prevailed against
nearby Mars Hill Sunday, and
now look forward to the regular
season.
“We start out every spring
playing UNC Asheville to
prepare for our season,” said
John Hunter, Mars Hill Col
lege second-year head coach.
“They’re one of the best teams
in North Carolina.”
The match between UNCA
and Mars Hill College was an
exhibition and did not count in
the season standings.
“I felt good about how we
competed tonight. I feel that
we are ready for the season and
our opponents,” said Tom Hand
UNCA assistant coach. “We
have a challenging schedule in
front of us and we have worked
very hard to get here.”
Earlier this week, the Big
South Conference announced
its pre season poll and predicted
the UNCA men’s tennis team
to finish in eighth place in the
conference this season.
“Our goal is to surprise people
in our conference,” said Reid
Dillon, UNCA men’s tennis
team member. “We weren’t
picked very high in the Big
South this year. Our team is
ready to start the season.”
A successful start to the sea
son will not come easy as the
Bulldogs square off against East
Carolina University on Monday
to start season play.
“We worked very hard to get
to this point,” said Hand, origi
nally from England. “We have a
very young team but I wouldn’t
say that we are rebuilding, our
young players have progressed
a lot this year. East Carolina is
a very good challenge for us to
See TENNIS on page 8