GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Whitney Bunn scored 26 points, including 14 in a wild third quarter, to help Furman turn back UNC Asheville, 63-51, in women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

The win was the fourth straight for Furman (4-4), which plays at Georgia on Monday in a 7:00 p.m. contest that will be televised over the SEC Network.

The Paladins built a 32-22 halftime advantage, but less than three minutes into the second half it was gone, thanks to a 14-0 run by UNC Asheville (4-2), which drained its first six shots of the quarter, including a 3-pointer by Chatori Major at the 7:37 mark to tie the game at 32-32.  A layup by Major a minute later finished off the run and gave the Bulldogs a 36-32 lead.

Bunn's 3-pointer halted the Bulldog blitz but a Bronaza Fitzgerald jump shot on the ensuing possession pushed UNCA's lead to 38-35 midway through the period.

The rest of the quarter, however, belonged to Furman — and Bunn — as the senior guard scored 12 of the Paladins' final 16 points, capped by a 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining,  to send Furman into the fourth quarter up, 51-43.

"We are awful at the beginning of the third quarter, but today was the first time with this team that we were prepared to bounce back, and we did," said Furman head coach Jackie Carson.  "We told them at halftime that they (UNCA) were going to make a run, but I didn't know it was going to be a run like that.  During a timeout I looked into their eyes and knew we were going to bounce back.  We settled down after getting our first basket, and our press really gave us a spark, too."

A Tierra Hodges layup with 8:22 remaining in the game gave Furman a 57-48 lead, and it remained that way for over five minutes as neither team could score before Le'Jzae Davidson's 3-pointer pointer from the left wing with 2:17 to go halted the dry spell and gave the Paladins a 60-48 advantage.

UNCA managed only one basket over the game's final seven minutes and 33 seconds, missing nine consecutive shots during one stretch.

"Whitney did a good job of doing what we asked her to do -- take control and take the tough shots," added Carson.  "She looked to be more offensive in this game than she has been recently.  We told her to look in transition, and she did a nice job with that, which makes everybody else better."

Bunn's 26-point performance featured 9-for-19 shooting from the field, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range.  She also claimed eight rebounds and collected five assists.  The 26 points moved her up two spots to 10th on Furman's career scoring chart with 1,288 points.

Cierra Carter notched her third double-double of the season, tallying 12 points and 12 rebounds that helped the Paladins register a 45-34 advantage on the boards.

Major lead UNCA with 15 points and Tianna Knuckles finished with 10.

Furman shot 39.6 percent from the field (21x53) while the Bulldogs converted just 19-of-59 shots (32.2%).

Hunter Reid, Furman Sports Information