Chattanooga 57, Georgia Southern 55
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Senior Shanara Hollinquest and freshman Kayla Christopher combined for 37 points to lead the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team to a 57-55 win over Georgia Southern in the McKenzie Arena Monday night. The win moves the Lady Mocs to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference, and drops GSU to 7-7 and 2-3 in league play.
Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) calmly stroked a three-pointer with 3.3 seconds left to make the game-winner for the Lady Mocs. She scored a career-high 18 points on the night and grabbed nine rebounds.
Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Lady Mocs won the battle of the boards 44-34. It's her eighth double-double of the year, third in her last five games.
Carolyn Whitney led the Eagles with 10 points, all in the first half, and seven rebounds. Southern had six players with six or more points for the game.
It was a topsy-turvy game from start to finish with 16 lead changes and five ties. There were 13 lead changes and four ties in the first 15-plus minutes alone before the Lady Mocs went over six minutes without a field goal going 0-5 from the field with four turnovers. It propelled the Eagles on a 6-1 run to take a five-point cushion, 26-21, at 4:36 on two Jamie Navarro free throws.
A Hollinquest layup ended the drought for the Lady Mocs at 3:32, but the Eagles answered with five straight points capped by a Whitney layup at 1:51 to make it 31-23. Freshman Erin Helton (Cookeville, Tenn.) hit a three for Chattanooga to cut it to 31-26 at the break.
The Lady Mocs shot just 32.3 percent from the field hitting 10 of 31 shots in the opening half. The turnover bug hurt Chattanooga with eight that GSU converted to nine points.
Georgia Southern scored the first four points of the second half to jump to a 35-26 lead before Hollinquest answered in the paint for the Lady Mocs with a strong take to the basket at 18:02. The Eagles extended the lead back to nine on two Jessica Geiger free throws at 17:35 to make it 37-28.
The Lady Mocs scored the next five points, all by Hollinquest, to claw back in the game, 37-33. Samantha Williams answered for GSU with a three-pointer, before Holinquest scored inside to cut the lead back to five, 40-35.
Both teams continued to hit shots midway through the half. A Christopher three-pointer at 9:24 chiseled the lead down to three points, 48-45. After freshman Michelle Davis (Cleveland, Tenn.) cut the lead to two, 51-49, with a free throw, Christopher hit a jumper to knot the score at 51-51 with 7:06 to play.
Sophomore Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) gave the Lady Mocs their first lead of the second half, 54-53, with a three-pointer from the left wing with 3:55 to play. A Krista Tate jumper from the baseline at 2:52 gave the Eagles the lead right back at 55-54.
It was a roller-coaster ride to the finish. On the Lady Mocs last possession, they got off two shots within three feet of the basket that rimmed out, but offensive rebounds by senior Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.) and Townsend kept it alive for Christopher to calmly hit a three-pointer from the right wing with 3.3 seconds to play. After a timeout, a Whitney desperation three-point attempt was off the mark giving the Lady Mocs an emotional victory in the Roundhouse.
Holinquest and Christopher combined to score 19 straight points in a key second half surge for the Lady Mocs, who trailed by as many as nine with 17:35 to play. The duo scored 24 of Chattanooga's 31 second-half points.
The Chattanooga defense was key down the stretch. It held the Eagles to just two field goals over the final eight minutes of the game.
Both defenses kept their opponent under 40 percent from the field as the Lady Mocs shot 35.0 percent (21-60) compared to 35.7 percent (20-56) for GSU. Both teams hit seven three-pointers and eight free throws. Rebounding was the key to the game as the Lady Mocs converted 15 offensive rebounds into 18 points, none bigger than Christopher's clinching three-pointer.
The Lady Mocs hit the road this weekend travelling to Appalachian State for a 3 p.m. tip on Saturday afternoon. Larry Ward, "The Voice of the Lady Mocs" will have the call on ESPN Radio 105.1 FM "The Zone". Log onto the official website of Chattanooga athletics for live stats and streaming video and audio.
Appalachian State 53, Western Carolina 52
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball eeked out a one point win over Southern Conference rival Western Carolina Monday evening, as the Apps defeated WCU 53-52 in the Ramsey Center. With the victory, the Black and Gold improve to 7-6 overall and 3-2 in the league, while the Lady Catamounts drop to 3-11 on the season and 2-3 in the conference.
In a game that exposed lackluster effort by both squads, the Mountaineers were unable to find the bottom of the basket in the waning minutes of play, as WCU went on a 10-1 run to erase a once double-digit ASU advantage. The run led to an ensuing Western Carolina lead, their first of the contest, going up 52-51 with 1:23 play. The Lady Catamounts were paced by Caitlin Hollified and Kristen Feemster during the streak.
Fortunately for the Apps, freshman Ashlen Dewart was able to come up big once again, as she drilled a layup with ten seconds remaining to give Appalachian the one point win.
Dewart ended the contest with her fourth double-double of her career, scoring a game-high 21 points and hauling in 13 rebounds.
The Mountaineers appeared to have the contest under control in the first half, despite not much offensive production, as ASU used a 14-5 run to go up by 12 points, taking a 25-13 lead into intermission.
Appalachian's offense came from all over, as Catherine Williams, Sam Ramirez and Dewart all found themselves in the scoring column.
The second half opened up on the Apps side, as Anna Freeman drilled a jumper making the score 32-15. However, the momentum swing changed from there, as Western Carolina continued to chip away at ASU's commanding lead, making it a single digit game with just under five minutes to play.
The Lady Catamounts continued to battle ASU for the win, but their late comeback rally came up short.
ASU looks to extend its winning streak to four games, as the Mountaineers host CAA foe, Richmond, Wednesday January 6 at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Center.
Notes: The win over WCU marked ASU's first over the Lady Catamounts since February 24, 2005 ... it also gave Appalachian its first win over Western Carolina on the Lady Catamounts home floor since 2004, snapping a nine game losing streak.
Davidson 82, Elon 73
ELON, N.C. - Davidson put all five of its starters in double figures, led by senior Alex Thompson's (Asheville, N.C.) 22 points, and the Wildcats had the last decisive run in the late stages of the second half to take home their fifth Southern Conference win with an 82-73 road victory at Elon on Monday evening in women's basketball action.
A 14-4 run from the 8:18 mark until the 3:07 mark in the second period turned a three-point Wildcat lead into a 75-62 advantage and they would get seven free throws in the last two minutes to seal the nine-point victory.
Davidson ran its winning streak to four straight and won for the sixth time in the last seven games to run its overall record to 6-7 and its SoCon mark to 5-1. The Wildcat moved into first place after tonight's win as College of Charleston fell at Samford.
Thompson hit the 20-point mark for the second time this year to pace the five Wildcat starters. Her fellow senior classmates followed as Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) closed with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Monica Laune (Ashland, Neb.) tallied season highs of 13 points and seven rebounds. The trio combined to hit 15 of their 29 field goal attempts and added 16 more points at the charity stripe.
Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) and freshman Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) each had 15 and 12 points, respectively, to round out the starters. Aleksandravicius had a double-double in the second half as she scored all 15 of her points and hauled in all but one of her game-high 15 rebounds in the half. It's the first-year player's third straight double-double and fifth this season.
The game was a feature of runs from the beginning to the end.
Aleksandravicius, held scoreless in the first half after getting into foul trouble, found her scoring groove in the early part of the second half when she scored nine of the Wildcats' 13 points in a 13-2 run to gave Davidson a 58-45 lead with 13:49 to play.
Elon (5-8, 1-5 SoCon) responded though with a 13-3 run of its own, eight of those points coming from Ali Ford, to cut the Wildcat lead down to three at 61-58 with 8:18 to go.
For the Phoenix, Ford, the third-leading scorer in the SoCon, closed with a game-high 27 points 10 of them from the 15-foot line and Urysla Cotton had 12 points.
Behind the sweet outside stroke of Thompson to open the first half, Davidson grabbed a 23-16 lead after back-to-back three-balls by the senior guard, forcing an Elon timeout with 8:13 on the clock. Thompson was not done, adding a pair of free throws to cap off 17-0 Wildcat run, and a 10-point outburst of her own, as Davidson held a 30-16 lead with 5:13 left in the half.
Thompson had a stout first half, draining 5-of-9 field goals, including three of her four from behind the arc, and added a perfect 4-for-4 showing at the charity stripe for 17 points.
After a pair of buckets from Elon's Tiara Gause to bring the Davidson lead down to ten (32-22), Thompson hit two more free throws and Lax's second three-ball of game pushed the Wildcat lead out to its largest of the game at 37-22.
But, the Phoenix went on a late charge in the final 3:34 of the half to cut the deficit down to three points at halftime. Elon caught fire and scored 18 points in that last three and half minutes, with Ford (seven points in the run) capping off an 18-4 run on a conventional three-point play, and the Wildcats lead was cut to 41-38 as the buzzer sounded.
Davidson returns home for its next contest against the Longwood Lancers on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Game Notes: Head Coach Annette Watts is now five SoCon wins away from reaching 100 for her career ... Davidson is in the midst of playing five games in a 10-day span, with tonight's game being game No. 2 ... Aleksandravicius has registered double doubles now in four of the past five games ... Davidson has now won three straight in the all-time series and 13 of the last 14 meetings overall ... the Wildcats scored 25 points off of Elon turnovers ... the Wildcats finished the contest shooting 45.6 percent, including 54.5 percent from downtown.
Samford 70, College of Charleston 47
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford junior guard Emily London scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 70-47 Southern Conference win over SoCon-leading College of Charleston Monday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.
"The biggest thing I liked was they had 15 points in the second half," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought our team responded defensively. We started off great offensively, but we didn't defensively. But I thought from the middle part of the first half and the entire second half, we really guarded well. We took pride in our defense and we responded against a good Charleston team."
As a team, Samford made 48 percent (12-of-25) of its three-pointers, while holding College of Charleston to just 20 percent (3-of-15). Samford forced the Cougars into 18 turnovers, while the Bulldogs committed just 13 turnovers of their own.
With her 28 points in the game, London moves into third place on Samford's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,030 career points, passing Chelsee Insell's 1,008 for third place. Samford's all-time leading scorer is Alex Munday, who scored 1,603 points in her Samford career.
Following London for Samford, senior guard Monica Maxwell scored 17 points, pulled down six rebounds and dished out three assists. Junior forward Savannah Hill had nine points and seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Alex Crow scored six points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
For College of Charleston, Brooke Kotcella led the way with 14 points. Ericka Williams had 13 points and eight rebounds. Tonia Gerty had nine points and five assists for the Cougars.
The game was close throughout the first half. The score was tied six times in the first 10 minutes of the half. With the score tied, 20-20, Samford went on a 9-2 run to take a 29-22 lead with 4:38 to go in the first half after a pair of free throws by London.
The seven-point lead for Samford was the largest for either team in the first half. Samford took a 36-32 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Samford pushed its lead out to10 at 47-37 with 16:36 to go after a three-pointer by Maxwell. With Samford leading, 47-40, the Bulldogs went on an 18-2 run to push their lead to 65-42 with 8:57 left in the game after a three-pointer by London.
College of Charleston scored the next five points to cut the lead to 18 at 65-47 with 5:47 left in the game. Samford scored the final five points in the game to make the final score 70-47.
With the win, Samford improves to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in SoCon play. College of Charleston drops to 9-5 overall and 4-2 in league play.
Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 9, when the Bulldogs play at Davidson. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Davidson, N.C.