Bulldogs fall flat against High Point

Despite out-rebounding the High Point Panthers 56 - 34, the Bulldogs dropped their sixth conference game in a row Monday night at the Justice Center against their Big South Conference foe as they lost 77-63.

“It is disappointing, we killed them on the boards. We out-rebounded them by 22. But we missed so many shots, we had so many offensive opportunities. We just couldn’t convert them,” Head Coach Betsy Blose said.

Kiana Rainey scored the first basket of the night, giving UNC Asheville the only lead of the entire game. Lindsey Montgomery had a tremendous game, leading the team with 15 points and 18 rebounds.

The Panthers were led by guard Amy Dodd, who scored a game-high 28 points and went 4-of-6 from 3-point range and 10-of-15 from the field.

High Point also put Jurica Hargraves and Frances Fields in double-figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Blose said the the team’s inability to play consistently defined the Bulldog’s seventh conference game of the season.

“I think we have been very inconsistent. I think we do a decent job rebounding the basketball but we are not getting better. High Point is a strong young team and they put it to us. We have to be tougher and weather the storm,” Blose said.

UNCA struggled in the first half but attempted to get within striking distance before halftime.

“Well I think that the differences in the basketball game is that in the last three-and-a-half minutes of the first half we talked about shutting the lead down to six,” Blose said.

The Bulldogs’ plans changed quickly as the Panthers went on a 10-0 run in the final two and a half minutes of the first half, closing the half with a 16-point lead.

“That’s our problem, we can’t finish the half. Instead of going down six or maybe getting tied, we are going down sixteen,” Blose said. “You know you dig yourself a hole and then become very deflated.”

High Point took the momentum from the first half and steamrolled it into the second half. The Panthers never gave the Bulldogs a chance to get ahead as High Point’s defense forced 23 turnovers.

Freshman forward Kelli Riles said the outcome of the game would have been much different if the Bulldogs could have eliminated their turnovers.

“High Point converted on almost all of our turnovers, 23 points I believe. So if you take 23 points away from their final score, we have a fair game,” Riles said. “We need to stick together a little better when things get tough.”

High Point built up a 30-point lead before the Bulldogs were able to claw back into the game.

UNCA fought hard and was able to outscore the Panthers 37-35 in the second half, but the Bulldogs’ first half was too much to overcome.

Blose said the leaders must step up for the Bulldogs in order to keep up their sense of urgency and intense play.

“We decided to start to fight when we were down 26 points and it was too late. We just don’t have leadership on the court. We’ve got to have that sense of urgency to get stops when we need stops,” she said.

The lack of stops was evident in the game as the Bulldogs could only force 10 turnovers for the entire game.

Riles said the Bulldogs possess the talent necessary for a successful season, despite their struggles.

“There’s so much talent on this team but we need to learn how to bring it together. Our team has the potential to be the best in the league,” Riles said. “We’re 1-6 in conference but we should be 6-1, with the exception of probably Liberty, and they are a team that can be beat also. There’s always room for improvement, no matter how good you are.”

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out