Strong Second Half Pushes Women’s Basketball Past UNC Asheville

Wednesday, January 29

Radford, Va.

7:00 PM

Radford University

8-13,5-3Big South

UNC Asheville

2-19,0-8Big South

Team	1	2	3	4	F
UNC Asheville	15	10	9	13	47
Radford	16	8	18	21	63

Photo by: Rob Simmons

Strong Second Half Pushes Women’s Basketball Past UNC Asheville

1/29/2025 9:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

RADFORD, Va. – The Radford women's basketball program fell behind early but used a great second half effort to pull away and defeat UNC Asheville 63-47 Wednesday night.

KEY STATS

Cate Carlson stayed hot with another 19-point performance tonight, coming alive in the second half scoring 13 of her 19 points over the final 20 minutes.
Freshman Adelyn Traylor-Walker filled up the box score with 12 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and 3 rebounds.
Radford's third quarter was the difference maker, going on a 13-0 run to open the second half and outscoring UNC Asheville 18-9.
Taylor Napper finished with a season-high 9 rebounds and hit her first three-pointer of the season to finish with 6 points.
With ball possession a key for the Highlanders, Radford won the turnover battle again tonight and converted 13 points off the Bulldogs 15 turnovers.

PLAY BY PLAY
The first half would prove to be a grind for both squads as Radford was locked in a tight battle through the first 20 minutes. Radford would gain the early advantage behind makes from Joi Williams, Makayla Firebaugh and Carlson to pull ahead 7-2.

A three-pointer by Traylor-Walker put Radford up 12-5, but an 8-3 run by the Bulldogs tightened the game to just a 16-15 lead after one quarter. The Highlanders offense would face some struggles in the second quarter, making just three shots but playing solid defense to keep things close. After a three by Williams in the closing minutes, Radford would trail 24-25 headed in the second half.

It was a brand-new game from there, however, as Radford's shots would start to fall. The Highlanders opened the second half with three straight three pointers from Traylor-Walker, Napper and Carlson while Carlson added a pair of layups for a 16-0 run. Now up 37-25, Radford was able to cruise on the home court.

Carlson hit another three before the third quarter closed, and Radford led 42-34 with 10 minutes to play. Adriana Shipp-Davis sparked another extended run for Radford, who left the third quarter and began the fourth on another 16-0 run.

The offense came from everywhere as Traylor-Walker, Firebaugh, Napper, Shipp-Davis, Kirby Brown and Kirah Dandridge would all hit shots that pushed Radford ahead 56-34. Carlson would add one last three down the stretch to push her point total to 19 as Radford put the exclamation point on a 63-47 victory.

AROUND THE BIG SOUTH

Charleston Southern held on in a tight battle against USC Upstate, winning 62-58.
Winthrop came from behind to earn a 67-58 overtime victory at Presbyterian.
Longwood cruised early and held on for a 64-52 win over Gardner-Webb.

UP NEXT
Radford returns to the road for their first conference rematch of the season and flips the calendar to February when they visit USC Upstate for a 4:00 p.m. tip on Saturday, February 1st.

Follow Women's Basketball on Social Media
For more information on the Radford women's basketball team, follow @Radford_WBB on X and Instagram or Radford Women's Basketball on Facebook.