Perez’s Career Night Leads Highlanders Past UNC Asheville, 70-60

Asheville, N.C. - Heather Perez (Louisville, Tenn.) made the most of her first career start. The junior guard poured in a career high 27 points, leading Radford to a, 70-60 victory over UNC Asheville at the Justice Center.

She shot a career best 7-for-10 from the field and 12-of-13 from the charity stripe, helping the Highlanders snap a two-game slide and improve to 8-16 overall and 4-8 in the Big South. RU also ended a five-game road-losing streak that dated back to their Jan. 11 win at Winthrop. Amanda Neby (Plymouth, Minn.) chipped in with 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. box score

Despite a furious comeback effort late, the Bulldogs dropped their 17th straight, falling to 4-22 overall and 0-12 in the Conference. Kristal Hood and Joanne Stephenson led UNCA with 12 points apiece. Stephenson was the spark in the comeback effort, canning four three-pointers in the final seven minutes. Tonisha Jackson also post double figures for the Bulldogs with 11 points, while Sherri Daniels added eight points and a game best 13 rebounds.

Radford led from start to finish as it scored the first seven points of the game off three Asheville turnovers. UNCA committed 11 turnovers in the first half as the Highlanders sprinted to a 36-25 halftime lead. Perez had 14 points in the opening half. 20 of RU’s first half points came off of 13 Bulldog turnovers.

In the second half, Radford built their largest lead of 19 at 51-32 on a Neby layup with 8:47 left. The Bulldogs made a great comeback as Stephenson sank four long treys in the final nine minutes. UNCA closed to within eight at 66-58 with 20 seconds left on a trey from Shantell Waiters. Radford was able to keep the Bulldogs at bay with great free throw shooting, scoring their last nine points on free throws. For the game, the Highlanders went 20-of-23 from the charity stripe for 87 percent and were 14-of-17 in the second half.

Ludmila Nicheporchuk (Minsk, Belarus) added nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from the line and dished out a team high five assists, while Sherri Rickman (Roanoke, Va.) tied Neby with a team best eight boards. The Highlanders tied their season low with nine turnovers.

Radford will return home for the first of their final two regular season games on Wednesday when they host High Point. Their season finale will be next Saturday, March 1 when Liberty comes to town on senior night. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.