ASHEVILLE, N.C. -  The Charleston Southern women's basketball team dropped to 0-7 in the Big South on Wednesday night with a 43-40 loss to the UNC Asheville Bulldogs. Despite holding the Bulldogs to just 12 second half points, the Bucs shot just 17/56 from the field and turned the ball over 21 times. 

Sha'Mya Leigh played all 40 minutes and led the Bucs with 11 points and three steals while shooting 5/10 from the field. Catherine Alben had nine points off of the bench, and Madison Adamson led the team in rebounds with nine.  Defensively, the Bucs were sensational, forcing a season-high 28 turnovers leading to 17 points the other way. Alba Garcia, Zaire Hicks and Leigh each had three steals.

First Half
The Bucs got the scoring started in the first quarter, jumping out to a 6-3 lead with 4:51 left in the opening quarter. Then, the Bulldogs went on an 11-4 run to end the quarter. The Bulldogs carried the momentum into the second quarter, extending the lead to eight points at 19-11 with 8:14 left before Carleigh Andrews knocked down a free throw to end the scoring drought of over four minutes. The Bucs did not get their first field goal of the second quarter until the 6:59 mark when Adamson knocked down a two-point jump shot to make it 19-13. 

After that, the Bucs cut it to three with a three-pointer by Leigh, but Asheville went on a little run, extending the lead back to eight with 2:22 left in the opening half. After a Jazmine Jackson jumper cut it to six, the Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 11 points with a 7-0 run to close out the half with a 31-20 lead. 

Second Half
Out of the gate, the Bulldogs looked to have carried th momentum into the third quarter, pushing their lead to as high as 15, when a steal led to a basket the other way to give them a 38-23 cushion. Alben cut into the lead with a three-point jump shot, one of just two for the night by the Buccaneers, who finished just 2/20 from beyond the arc. Back-to-back lay-ups to close out the quarter cut the deficit to 38-30 in favor of the Bulldogs. 

The scoring continued, as the Bucs capped of an 11-0 run with a jump shot to trim the Bulldog lead to four with 8:59 to go and forcing a timeout. Charleston Southern had a chance at the end, but could only manage four points in the final four minutes. An Alben jumper with 1:41 to go made it 42-40, but that is all the Bucs could muster up. 

Next Up
The Bucs are back in action this Saturday at 2 p.m. when they travel to Campbell to take on the Fighting Camels, searching for their first conference win. Their next home game is a 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 25^th against Winthrop.