CHARLESTON, S.C. - There are just five games left in the regular season as Charleston Southern gets ready to welcome UNC Asheville to the Buccaneer Field House on Tuesday night. Tipoff between the Bucs and the Bulldogs is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Bucs (3-21, 1-14 Big South) are looking to repeat their performance in their first game against Asheville back on January 14 as CSU toppled the Bulldogs inside Kimmel Arena, 60-48. Since the win, the Bucs have struggled to get back on track as CSU enters the Tuesday night matchup on a nine-game skid, including falling in this past Saturday's contest at Presbyterian.
In the first matchup at UNC Asheville,
Tierra Steede scored nine points over the final ten minutes of the game and
Sharita Godfrey was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line down the stretch as Charleston Southern topped host UNC Asheville in Big South play.
With the score tied up at 39-39 after the first three quarters of play, CSU outscored the Bulldogs 21-9 in the decisive fourth quarter. The Bucs defense stifled the Asheville offensive attack throughout the majority of the game and limited UNC Asheville to just a 17.6% shooting percentage down the stretch in picking up their first conference win of the season.
Steede put in the go-ahead basket on the Bucs' first possession of the fourth quarter and
Carmella Walker followed with a three-pointer to give the Bucs the 44-39 lead with 8:35 remaining. The Bucs continued their run with a Steede layup to go up seven before Kia Carter's three-pointer ended the 7-0 run and put the Bulldogs on the board.
Carter followed with another triple to cut the CSU lead down to 46-45 with 4:53 remaining as Asheville narrowed the gap back to within one point.
Ahlea Myers responded with a three-pointer from the right wing, before Steede connected on her biggest shot of the game with a three-pointer off an open look from the left corner to put the Bucs ahead 52-45 with 3:00 left on the clock.
Asheville narrowed the Bucs lead down to five points following a Sonora Dengokl three-pointer with 1:27 remaining, but Steede and Godfrey connected on 7-of-9 free throws down the stretch to secure the Buccaneers win.
Overall, the Bucs held the Bulldogs to shooting just 20.0% (13-of-65) from the floor and 5-of-25 from the three-point line in the conference win. Both numbers were among the season-bests for the CSU defense on the season.
The Bucs will be looking for another strong defensive performance as CSU attempts to bounce back from a tough loss on Saturday afternoon at Presbyterian. CSU was outscored 20-4 in the fourth quarter as the Blue Hose hit five three-pointers down the stretch in taking the win.
CSU held the narrow 35-34 halftime lead in the contest in Clinton, S.C., but the Blue Hose utilized a 13-0 run in the third quarter on their way to building a nine-point lead. The Bucs cut it down to one point on two separate occasions in the third quarter, but PC's Kacie Hall and Tess Santos connected on several shots from behind the arc to offset strong performances from CSU's
Ahlea Myers and
Tyra Wright.
Myers and Wright led the Bucs' scoring efforts in the game against the Blue Hose with Myers scoring a team-high 12 points in her first double-digit scoring effort since December 28 against USC Upstate. Wright posted her second consecutive 10-point effort going 5-of-9 from the floor in the loss to the Blue Hose.
UNC Asheville (14-10, 8-7 Big South) is looking to build off a two-game winning streak heading into the contest as the Bulldogs have picked up wins over Presbyerian and Winthrop to move back above .500 in conference play.
In their latest action this past Saturday against the Eagles, UNC Asheville utilized a balanced scoring and rebounding attack in the 65-55 win over Winthrop. Nadiria Evans led all scorers in the game with 18 while Sonora Dengokl was right behind with 15 points. Zip Scott scored 10 to round out the double-digit scorers for the Bulldogs, while Brooke Jordan-Brown led UNC Asheville with 14 rebounds.
Tierra Steede continues to pace the Buccaneers scoring and rebounding leaders in the 2019-20 season as CSU heads into the final stretch of the regular season. The senior forward boasts a team-high 10.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game – both of which would put her among the Big South leaders in scoring (19th) and rebounding (5th) individually on the season.
Carmella Walker (9.5 points) is also among the team scoring leaders on the season, while pacing the Bucs with 49 steals on the season.
Sharita Godfrey is second on the team with 5.8 rebounds, while adding 31 steals and 11 blocked shots.
Wright has been a standout among recent games as well for the Buccaneers as the freshman has averaged 10.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game over the last three contests, while boasting a 55.0% field goal percentage from the floor.
Nadiria Evans leads two Bulldogs averaging double-digits scoring on the season with 14.2 points per game on 41.9% shooting. The junior guard leads the team with 33 steals and 43 assists on the year and also paces Asheville in free throws and free throw attempts.
Sonora Dengokl is also averaging 12.3 points per game on the season while sitting among the team's statistical leaders is multiple categories. Brooke Jordan-Brown is averaging 10.3 rebounds per game with a team-high 17 blocked shots, while Zip Scott (31) and Amaryah Corpening (24) are the primary three-point threats for the Bulldogs.
Up Next
Charleston Southern takes advantage of a rare weekend off from action before returning to the Buc Dome on Tuesday, February 25, for a conference showdown against Campbell. Tipoff between the Bucs and the Blue Hose is set for 7 p.m.
