Chattanooga 66, Belmont 61
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team brought a halt to a four-game losing skid with a 66-61 win over Belmont at the Curb Event Center Thursday afternoon.
Chattanooga improves to 4-8 overall with the win in the first meeting between the two teams since 1981. The Lady Mocs are 6-3 against the Bruins and have won each of the last four games. Belmont drops to 4-7 overall.
Junior Tenisha Townsend dropped in 10 points in the first half and closed out the game with 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds for a game and career-high 18 points.
After leading by as much as seven in the first half, the Lady Mocs carried a tenuous 29-28 lead into halftime. Through midway of the second half, the Lady Mocs maintained a narrow lead, never getting out front by more than five points.
However, Belmont connected on a pair of free throws at the 11:47 mark then tied it up 45-45 on a 3-pointer from Kristin Nash with 10:37 to play. A trey from Shaunda Strayhorn gave Belmont its first lead since early in the first half at 48-46 at the 8:47 mark. Hood would knot it up with a pair of free throws, but the Bruins retook the lead on a pair of shots from the charity stripe from Nash.
The lead went back and forth with one more tie before Chattanooga took control on a short jumper from sophomore Kayla Christopher and never trailed again grabbing it largest lead of the game at 63-54 on a pair of free throws from Townsend with 30 seconds to play.
Dewart dropped in 11 points with three 3-pointers and eight rebounds. Hood had 15 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Freshman Destiny Bramblett matched her career-high with seven points.
After shooting 31.1 percent (10-of-32) in the first half, the Lady Mocs went 11-of-24 (45.8) in the second half. Chattanooga edged Belmont on the boards 36-34 and scored 13 points off 16 Bruin turnovers. UTC was held to a season-low eight turnovers and dished out 12 assists.
Chattanooga returns to Southern Conference action this Sunday with a 3 p.m. matchup against Wofford at the McKenzie Arena as the Lady Mocs march toward its 200th game at the Roundhouse on Jan. 4.
Samford 67, St. Peter's 53
JERSEY CITY, N.J.-Samford senior guard Emily London scored 29 points and tied a school record with seven three-pointers, as the Bulldog women's basketball team won at Saint Peter's College, 67-53, Thursday night on the final day of the Saint Peter's Holiday Classic at the Yanitelli Center.
Samford finished 2-0 in the Saint Peter's Holiday Classic after defeating Central Connecticut, 76-57 in Wednesday evening's opening round.
"I was pleased with our approach to this trip and to these two games," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "Our team, our leadership and our whole approach to this tournament was very good. We were focused and ready to play in both of these games. I was very pleased with our team and our effort."
London made 8-of-11 shots from the floor, 7-of-10 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Her seven three-pointers tie the school record set by Chelsee Insell against Eastern Kentucky in 2006. London also had six rebounds and four assists in the win.
As a team, Samford made 15 three-pointers, which also tied a school record. The team record of 15 three-pointers has been tied four times, with the latest time coming against Berry College earlier this season.
Behind London for Samford, junior guard Paige Anderson scored 14 points. Anderson also made 6-of-6 attempts from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Jazmine Martin scored nine points, making 3-of-5 from three-point range. As a team, Samford shot 41.7 percent overall and 51.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Saint Peter's was led in scoring by Teresa Manigrasso with 14 points. Lauren Morris scored 11 points and Jynae Judson added 10 points for the Peahens.
The teams traded baskets early in the game until, with the game tied at 6-6, Samford went on a 17-5 run to take a 23-11 lead with 5:24 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by London. Saint Peter's fought back to cut the lead to nine at 25-16.
Samford pushed its lead out to as much as 18 at 34-16 with 2:12 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Martin. The Bulldogs took a 36-19 lead into halftime.
Samford pushed its lead out to 25 points early in the second half at 47-22 with 15:58 to go in the game after a three-pointer by London. With Samford leading, 51-27, Saint Peter's went on a 12-0 run to cut the Samford lead to 12 at 51-39 with 7:36 to go in the game.
With Samford leading, 54-43, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to push its lead to 61-43 with 2:57 to go in the game following a pair of free throws by Anderson. With Samford leading, 65-47, Saint Peter's scored six of the final eight points in the game to make the final score 67-53.
With the win, Samford improves to 9-3 on the season. The Bulldogs have now won nine of their last 10 games. Saint Peter's drops to 0-10 with the loss.
Samford will return to action on January 4, when the Bulldogs play host to Wofford in a Southern Conference contest.
James Madison 82, Western Carolina 47
HARRISBURG, Va. - Western Carolina women's basketball (3-9) dropped its final non-conference game of the season 82-47 to James Madison (7-5) Thursday at the JMU Convocation Center. The Catamounts hit just 11 field goals in the game, seven of them three pointers. WCU was 18-of-28 from the free throw line, accounting for almost half of the team's total points.
Western Carolina dug itself a hole it could never recover from, hitting only three field goals in the first half. The Catamounts scored seven of its 14 points from the free throw line, hitting 7-of-14.
James Madison had a chance to balloon its lead, in the first half, with 12 trips to the free throw line, but could only manage to hit two of its freebies from the charity stripe. The Catamounts got a pair of field goals from Kaila'Shea Menendez, who was also 3-of-7 from the free throw line in the first half, and a three pointer by Emily Clarke.
The Catamounts did pick up its scoring a bit in the second half, hitting seven field goals in the final 20 minutes. James Madison struggled from the free throw line, hindering its chance to push the score even further, hitting only 6-of-21 from the freebie line.
Clarke led the Catamounts with 16 points, 13 coming in the second half, and hitting four three pointers. She fouled out with 4:03 left in the game. Menendez added 11 points, with seven of her points from the free throw line.
James Madison's Dawn Evans, the nation's leading scorer averaging 26.1 points per game, had 15 points in the game.
Western Carolina hosts UNC Greensboro on Monday in the first of a four-game Southern Conference home stand. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.
Marshall 79, Elon 69
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - The Elon University women's basketball team dropped its final game of the 2010 calendar year on Thursday night, Dec. 30, as the Marshall Thundering Herd handed the Phoenix a 79-69 setback inside the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W. Va.
Elon falls to 6-5 with the loss, while Marshall improves to 4-8 with the win.
"Overall, we have progressed and gotten better as a team, but we still need to learn how to capitalize on other team's mistakes when we are ahead," said Elon head coach Karen Barefoot. "We played well enough to win tonight, but missed key opportunities on the boards that led to several second chance points for Marshall."
Elon forced 22 Thundering Herd turnovers in the loss and grabbed 15 steals, but Marshall dominated the glass, 52-30, which included 19 offensive boards leading to 16 second chance points.
Shon Redmond played well for the Phoenix in the loss, scoring a career-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field in her second straight start.
Elon put four players in double figures in the loss, as Ali Ford and Kelsey Evans each scored 12 points, while Tiara Gause pitched in 11 points off the bench in 20 minutes of work.
Elon started the game on a 7-0 run and didn't allow the Thundering Herd to hit a field goal until the 15:59 mark of the first half when Tynikki Crook scored on a layup. Crook led all players with a game-high 21 points.
Evans extended Elon's lead to five points with 8:52 remaining in the first half after her old-fashioned three-point play paved the way for a
20-15 advantage for the Phoenix.
Marshall managed to pull within a point with 2:09 remaining in the half after a jumper in the paint by Saleese Stovall made it a 27-26 game.
But the Phoenix held off the Thundering Herd to take a 33-30 lead into the locker room at intermission after shooting 44.8 percent from the field, including a 60 percent clip (3-of-5) from beyond the arc. Redmond led the Phoenix and tied for a game-high with nine points at the half on
3-of-4 shooting from the field.
The Thundering Herd managed to tie the game for the first time after Crook connected from three-point land with 19:31 remaining to knot it at 33-all. Marshall took its first lead with 17:58 left after an Elon turnover led to a fastbreak layup to make it a 35-33 game.
But Ford helped Elon regain the lead with 15:02 remaining after sinking a three off the glass in the corner in front of the Phoenix bench to make it a 40-38 game.
Evans helped the Phoenix take its largest lead of the second half with
10:01 remaining after sinking a pair of free throws on a one-and-one following a Marshall foul to make it a 52-47 game.
But the Thundering Herd stormed back over the next 58 second to reclaim the lead, as back-to-back three-point baskets put the Phoenix behind, 53-52, forcing Barefoot to regroup her troops and call a timeout.
Elon capitalized on a Thundering Herd turnover at midcourt to take a
60-56 advantage with 5:42 remaining after Redmond stripped Marshall's Veronica Ruiz of the ball to lead to an easy layup for the Phoenix.
But the Thundering Herd proved to be resilient, going on a 12-0 run over the next 2:16 to take its largest lead of the game and put Elon behind, 68-60, forcing another Phoenix timeout with 3:38 left.
The Phoenix managed to pull back within six points down the stretch, but the Thundering Herd managed to sink key free throws down the stretch, despite shooting just 51 percent from the line for the game.
Elon jumps back into league play on Monday night, Jan. 3, when it hosts the Georgia Southern Eagles for a 7 p.m. Southern Conference tilt inside Alumni Gym.