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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
destneejump
46
AVL AVL 5-7, 0-1 BSC
60
Winner Radford RADFORD 7-5, 1-0 BSC
AVL AVL
5-7, 0-1 BSC
46
Final
60
Radford RADFORD
7-5, 1-0 BSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
AVL AVL 11 8 15 12 46
Radford RADFORD 14 17 14 15 60

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

TREMENDOUS DEFENSIVE EFFORT IGNITES HIGHLANDERS TO VICTORY OVER UNC ASHEVILLE IN BIG SOUTH OPENER



Watch Coach McGuire's Postgame Press Conference


Radford, Va. - - -The host Radford women's basketball team put on a defensive clinic in their 60-46 victory against the UNC Asheville Bulldogs, in the Big South Conference opener for both squads at the Dedmon Center on Saturday.
 
"This was an outstanding win for us," said Highlander head coach Mike McGuire. "You have to be locked in all time when you play against UNC Asheville. I'm as proud of my team as I've been in a long time because we had to deal with a great deal of adversity today. We were really focused, executed and gutted this one out." 

The Highlanders, who won their third consecutive league opener, held the visitors to a 27.4 shooting clip as UNCA connected on just 17-of-62 field goal attempts.
 
Senior guard/forward Destinee Walker, who was honored prior to the contest as Radford's newest member of the 1,000 Point Club, scored 16 points, corralled a career-high 13 rebounds and added three steals in a 40-minute effort. Redshirt junior center Sydney Nunley continued her fine play as she produced her third straight double-double with 10 points and a career-best 15 rebounds.  Classmate Khiana Johnson, who also logged all 40 minutes, was also in double-digits with 12 points and dished a career-high seven assists. 

"They {UNCA} always have a good team so the keys today were to stop their shooting, play harder than them and be the smarter team," said Walker. "I thought it was important that we went into halftime with a lead and came into the second-half with a good energy and positive vibes."

Walker postgame interview

Radford (7-5, 1-0 Big South), who were without the services of two key starters Savannah Felgemacher and Lydia Rivers, led for most of the contest but gained separation over the final six minutes of the second quarter. The game was deadlocked at 14 after Jessica Wall's 3-pointer at the 7:00 minute mark, however, Radford went on a 17-5 spurt over the last 5:52 of the stanza to claim a 31-19 halftime lead.
 
Walker ignited the key stretch with a free throw and a layup, and then Johnson and sophomore guard Tina Lindenfeld converted jumpers to complete an 8-0 spurt. 
 
Brooke Jordan-Brown stopped the bleeding with a layup for the Bulldogs, however, redshirt junior guard Jen Falconer swished a triple and Walker and Nunley followed with layups to give the hosts their biggest lead of the half at 29-16 with 1:36 remaining.
 
Walker managed to drill a pull-up jumper to complete the first-half scoring after Wall (12 points) had delivered a trifecta for UNCA.
 
The Highlanders extended their lead to 15 after Johnson converted a conventional 3-point play with 8:36 left in the third quarter.
 
The visitors answered with a 10-2 run to close within 36-29 at the 4:30 mark after a layup by Kelli Fisher.
 
The Highlanders were able to restore a 45-32 lead by going on a 9-3 run over the next four minutes.  Radford settled for a 45-34 lead after three quarters as Ali Traini hit a jumper with three ticks left.
 
Radford put the game away over the first 4:50 of the final quarter as they outscored UNCA by a 10-3 margin to claim their biggest lead of the game at 55-37. Walker scored the final four points of the stretch with back-to-back layups and Johnson, Falconer and freshman forward Amele Ngwafang also added buckets.
 
UNCA  (5-7, 0-1 Big South) was never able to get the game back to single figures as they inched as close as 55-45 with 2:32 left after a trey by Wall.

Radford made 24-of-66 field goal attempts (36.4 percent) and forced 15 turnovers while committing just nine miscues.

UP NEXT
Radford will host High Point on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

FOLLOW RADFORD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
To follow the Radford women's basketball team, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordWBB on Twitter, 'radfordwbb' on Instagram or Radford Women's Basketball on Facebook.
 
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