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BUIES CREEK, N.C. -- A strong second-half surge pushed UNC Asheville to a 72-58 victory over Campbell on Saturday afternoon at Gore Arena. RaeChaun Edwards led the Lady Camels (6-6, 1-2 BSC) with 19 points and matched a season-high eight assists.
Jessica Pone tallied a career-high 15 points off the bench on 4-of-8 shooting from the field with a pair of three pointers. She also pulled down a game-high six rebounds. Hannah Long and Qua Brown finished with six points each while Amanda Coffer had four blocks.
Holding a narrow five point lead at halftime, UNC Asheville (11-2, 4-0) opened the second half on an 8-2 run to increase its advantage to 47-37 with 6:12 to play in the third period. Following a Pone layup with 2:08 to play that cut the deficit to nine at 50-41, the Bulldogs scored the next five to take a 55-41 advantage with 21 seconds to play before the fourth. Long hit a jumper with 11 seconds on the clock to cut the UNCA lead to 55-43 heading to the final stanza.
Asheville held a double-digit advantage for the entire fourth period. Back-to-back layups by Tiffany Wilson and Khaila Webb gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 69-53 with three minutes to play. An Edwards' free throw was able to cut the deficit to 11 with 1:11 remaining but the Bulldogs took home the 14-point victory.
Chantori Major led all scorers with 17 points for UNC Asheville. Tianna Knuckles was just behind her with 15 points while Ja'Da Brayboy finished with 12. The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 57.8 percent from the field (26-for-25) after shooting 70 percent early in the third period.
It was a fast and furious opening period with seven lead changes and six ties, while neither side led by more than four points. A three pointer for Edwards gave CU an 11-10 advantage, while two plays later a Coffer Layup after a Bulldog basket earned CU a 13-12 lead with 4:17 to play in the first.
A pair of Pone free throws knotted the game at 17-17 while Long hit a tough layup with 17 seconds on the clock to give CU a 19-17 advantage. However, Chatori Major nailed a three pointer with just three seconds left in the frame to give UNCA a 20-19 lead at the first break. The Bulldogs shot 69 percent in the opening period while each team scored 10 points in the paint.
The tight play continued early into the second period at Campbell re-gained the lead on another Edwards' three at 24-22 with 7:29 on the clock. However, an 8-0 run by the Bulldogs gave them the first double-digit lead of the game at 39-29 with 2:34 to play in the second.
The Lady Camels kicked up the defensive pressure following a timeout and didn't allow the hot-shooting Bulldogs to score for the remainder of the half. CU answered with a 6-0 spurt over that time and capped off the half with a Bria Emanuel layup at the buzzer to cut he Bulldog advantage to 39-25 at the break.
The Lady Camels will be back in action on Monday night when they will wrap-up a three game homestand against Gardner-Webb. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
