ASHEVILLE, N.C. — UNC Asheville’s women’s basketball team carries its best start in six seasons into a noon road game at Samford on Monday, Nov. 9, in Birmingham, Ala.
The Bulldogs are 2-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season after beating Georgia State 66-56 on Friday night. Passing and perimeter shooting have powered the start: the team leads the Big South at 19.5 assists a game, makes 80 percent of its free throws and is hitting 40.5 percent from three-point range while holding opponents to 18.2 percent from deep.
Guard Jamaria Freeman has handed out 12 assists through two games, the most in the conference and 33rd nationally, and Tre’Miyah Berry is knocking down two of every three shots she takes from beyond the arc. As a team, UNC Asheville sits 29th in the country in three-point accuracy and 41st in defending the three, with national rankings of 44th in assists and 34th at the foul line.
Samford is 1-1 and coming off an 84-58 defeat at Georgia Tech last Thursday. The home team leans heavily on the three, averaging 33 attempts and 12 makes a game, and it tops the Southern Conference with 22.5 assists per outing, 22nd in the country. Francie Morris shares 33rd nationally with 12 assists, and Briana Rivera has launched 18 threes and made seven of them.
The schools have met only twice, splitting those games. Samford won the last one 53-45 on Dec. 16, 2003, so Monday ends a gap of nearly 23 years between meetings.
UNC Asheville is the city’s public university and one of its major employers, and its Bulldogs play in the Big South Conference.
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