Chattanooga 72, Auburn 59

CHATTANOOGA, TN - Tiffani Roberson drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer and led all scorers Sunday evening as the Lady Mocs extended its win-streak to three games, defeating Auburn 72-59 in front of more than 2,000 fans at the Roundhouse.

With time winding down and Chattanooga holding a 10-point lead, the Memphis, Tenn., senior took a pass from fellow senior Nicole Mattison on a fast break. Instead of heading for the basket, Roberson dribbled to the right to run out the clock. However, wide open on the wing, she drained the first 3-point attempt of her career at Chattanooga to push the Lady Mocs to its largest lead of the game. The win gave UTC its second win over Auburn and ended an eight-game advantage held by the Tigers over Chattanooga since 1981.

Roberson, 9-for-15, scored 20 points and led a trio of Lady Mocs in double digits. Mattison scored a season-high 18 points hitting 6-of-9 including a pair of treys and was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Alex Anderson tallied her first double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.

“They started with a taller interior and had a 6-4 player on the perimeter,” Lady Mocs Head Coach Wes Moore said. “We went inside more tonight than we have in the eight years I’ve been here, and Alex and Tiffani responded.”

Chattanooga jumped out to an 11-point lead to start the game holding the Tigers to just four points over the first five minutes. Mattison and Roberson combined to score 11 points in that time and Mattison had nine points by the end of the first half. Auburn chipped away at UTC’s lead and overtook the Lady Mocs 26-25 with 1:36 to play before the break. The Tigers held a 70-39 percent field goal advantage in the first half making 14-of-20 shots and outrebounded the Lady Mocs 14-11 in the opening period.

In the second half, Chattanooga turned the tables on Auburn and went 16-of-26, outshooting the Tigers 61.5 percent to 28.7. The Lady Mocs crashed the boards grabbing 20, including 16 defensive boards in the second half and holding Auburn to just 12 in the latter period.

“There was a 10-minute stretch in the first half where we stood around, got a little stagnate and shots didn’t drop for us,” Moore said. “In the second half when we were able to stop the point guard and keep her from turning the corner. That’s when they got a bit stagnate.”

Chattanooga immediately tied it up with a layup from Anderson to start the second half. She was fouled by Alexis Ogubie on the shot and tied the game 30-30 on the ensuing free throw. The Lady Mocs tied it up four more times in the half. McCoy hit a layup at 15:38 to give UTC a 40-39 lead, but the Tigers responded with an 8-2 run to build its lead to 47-42 just two minutes later.

The Lady Mocs took a 50-49 lead at the 9:52 mark and never trailed again. That lead came amidst a 12-0 run that saw the Tigers miss 10 consecutive shots. Mattison scored nine of her 16 points in the final 4:54 of the game started with a 3-pointer and ended with a four straight free throws.

Mattison tied her career-high in minutes playing all 40 of the game. She notched a team-high four assists and five steals. Senior Katasha Brown chipped in eight points and had three assists playing 38 minutes while Anderson and Roberson each were in for 37 minutes. Anderson blocked 6-foot-5 Marita Payne midway through the first half to get her 50th career block and had three steals. Roberson pulled down five boards and freshman LaShandra McCoy stepped into the point for 16 minutes Sunday and had eight points and three assists. 

Story Courtesy Elon sports information

Elon 59, Southern Mississippi 57

RALEIGH, NC - Kitara McMoore's tip-in with less than one second remaining in regulation lifted the Elon Phoenix to a 59-57 women's basketball victory over Southern Mississippi in the consolation game of the NC State Tournament on Sunday afternoon. With the win, Elon improved to 3-3 while Southern Miss dipped to 2-5 on the year.

The Golden Eagles never trailed in the first half and gained a 10 point advantage at 34-24 with 2:20 left in the stanza when Amber Eugene's hit a layup. The Phoenix closed the gap at that point, using an 8-2 run over the final 2:20 to trim the halftime margin to 36-32.

Southern Miss scored the first four points of the second half, but Elon then went on an 11-2 run to grab its first lead of the game at 43-42 when Shashonna Moore put home a layup with 15:37 to play.

Elon extended its lead to nine with 6:32 to go when Tierra Bumbrey's layup gave the Phoenix a 54-45 advantage.

The Golden Eagles chipped away and would even the score at 57-57 with 33 seconds left as Kendra Reed sank one of two free throws.

The final 33 ticks saw Elon miss two shots, including a jumper in the paint from Nicole Allison with two seconds left that led to the tip by McMoore and the Phoenix victory.

McMoore tallied her first double-double of the season, and fourth of her career, by netting 10 points and hauling in a career-best 15 rebounds on her way to all-tournament accolades for the second straight weekend. Robyn Shipley led Elon with 12 points and Nikko King added 10 markers and nine rebounds for the Phoenix.

Southern Miss was paced by Ashley Boehnel's game-high 18 points, Liz Biland's 12 markers and Reed's 10 points. Eugene led the Golden Eagles with six rebounds.

Elon connected on 49.1 percent of its shots on the day, while Southern Miss hit on only 37.3 percent of its shots. The Phoenix dominated the boards, collecting 47 total rebounds (13 offensive) to 22 for the Golden Eagles.