ASHEVILLE, N.C.-Candace Brown scored 14 points and tied a career-high with 13 rebounds, and Olivia Parker and Kiera Currie each scored in double-figures as the Gardner-Webb women's basketball team (13-15, 9-10 BSC) knocked down 17-24 from the free-throw line to defeat UNC Asheville (7-20. 6-12 BSC) 66-58 in its final regular-season road matchup of the season on Saturday afternoon in Kimmel Arena.
Parker added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Currie chipped in with 10 points to round-out the double-digit scorers for Gardner-Webb.
Chatori Major scored 14 points and Shonese Jones connected on three shots from distance to lead the Bulldog offense for the afternoon.
UNC Asheville had a two rebound advantage (46-44) over the Runnin' Bulldogs, including outrebounding the Dogs by a 24-20 count of the offensive end, and had a narrow 18-16 advantage in second chance points.
The Runnin' Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers for the game, and cashed the Asheville turnovers into 19 points, compared to just four by the Bulldogs. Mayhana Dunovant led the Dogs with four steals on the afternoon, and as a team GWU totaled nine blocks, making it extremely difficult for Asheville to drive into the paint and score easy baskets.
The Runnin' Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-4 advantage at the under 16 media timeout, but Paige Love nailed a jumper and hit 1-2 from the free-throw line, to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game 7-6 with 14:37 left in the first half.
After Kiera Currie converted a layup to tie the game at 10, the Runnin' Bulldogs gave themselves some breathing room with a 6-0 run over the next three minutes, to take a 16-10 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining in the opening half.
The Bulldogs responded with their own 5-0 run to cut the deficit to one, 16-15, but three-straight layups from Gardner-Webb, extended its lead to seven with 8:56 left in the first half.
Gardner-Webb would continue to be in front for the rest of the half, leading by as much as seven. The Runnin' Bulldogs outscored UNC Asheville 18-8 in the paint in the first period, and got 15 points from its bench players, as GWU took a 31-23 advantage into the halftime break.
Currie connected on a three-pointer with 15:51 left in regulation, to give the Dogs their largest lead of the game 43-27. UNC Asheville cut the defecit to five, when Ja'Da connected on a three-pointer with 1:41 left in the second half, but the Runnin' Bulldogs would solidify the victory, going 6-6 from the charity stripe in the final 1:30, to defeat UNC Asheville 66-58, in the final regular-season road game of the season.
Gardner-Webb returns home for its final regular-season game of the season, when its hosts Radford on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena. Before the start of Tuesday's game, Gardner-Webb's three seniors; Mayhana Dunovant, Jessica Heilig, and Chariah Harris will be recognized.
