Chattanooga 87, Georgia Southern 80
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team opened Southern Conference play with a hot-shooting 87-80 win over Georgia Southern today. The Lady Mocs put on an impressive offensive performance in front of the television audience with a SoCon record 16 three-pointers.
UTC (3-4, 1-0 SoCon) was on fire from behind the arc in the opening half, hitting 11 of their 15 attempts from deep. That tied a school record for made threes in a half set against Davidson on Jan. 8, 2007. Sophomore Kayla Christopher led the way, making 4-of-6 from behind the arc to tie her career-high for 3-pointers in the first half.
Georgia Southern (1-7, 0-2 SoCon) was also lighting it up in the first 20 minutes, making half of their 30 attempts from the floor and 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Eight turnovers by Chattanooga kept the game close, but the Lady Mocs led 41-35 at the break.
Both teams were looking to impress the SportSouth viewers with their shooting touch, but this was the second game this season Chattanooga hit 10 or more threes in the first half. UTC also knocked down 10 at No. 18 Georgia on Nov. 19.
Christopher added her fifth trey on the Lady Mocs' first possession of the second half to take a 44-35 lead. Chattanooga went up 10 when junior Whitney Hood scored inside for a 56-46 advantage with 13:45 left in the game.
An 8-0 run by the Eagles cut the lead to 56-54 with 11:35 left on the clock. Hood scored again inside to stop the spurt. As hot as Chattanooga was from outside for the game, the Lady Mocs still went down low to their leading scorer in crunch time. Hood scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.
The Eagles again trimmed the lead to 74-71 after a three from Jordi Cook with 4:12 left in the game. UTC broke the league mark with sophomore Kylie Lambert's three from the top of the key on the next possession.
Hood was very efficient today, finishing 10-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-6 from the foul line. She also had a career-high and game-high six assists to go with a game-high eight rebounds. Christopher finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
Junior Tenisha Townsend's career-high 17 points was almost overshadowed by the 20-point performances of her teammates. Regardless, she hit 6-of-11 from the floor, 4-of-7 from behind the arc and 1-of-2 free throws. She also had three assists against one turnover in 32 minutes at the point.
As a team, UTC finished 61.1 percent (33-for-54) from the field and 66.7 percent (16-of-24) from 3-point range. The 87 points were a season-high, as were the Lady Mocs' 20 assists in the game.
The Lady Mocs will now break for final exams next week. UTC returns to the floor on Saturday, Dec. 11, when it welcomes Kentucky to the McKenzie Arena for the first time. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. EST against the Wildcats. It is the second game of a doubleheader with the men hosting Murray State at 3:00 p.m.
Furman 71, Charleston Southern 70
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Kaitlin Murphy's free throw with 59 seconds remaining broke a tie ball game and helped Furman hold off Charleston Southern, 71-70, in women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
After Charleston Southern's Kiki Rutledge delivered a layup to forge a 70-70 tie with 1:29 remaining, Murphy drew a foul and went to the free throw line, where she converted the second of two attempts to put the Paladins ahead, 71-70, with just under a minute to play.
The Buccaneers turned the ball over on the ensuing possession but had another chance following a Furman miss. CSU's Lakeitha Alston, however, was whistled for an offensive foul with five seconds to go, and the Buccaneers couldn't manage a quality shot following a pair of missed Furman free throws with two seconds remaining in the game.
The win was the third straight for Furman (4-2) and 13th consecutive triumph in its series with Charleston Southern (3-6).
Kelly O'Connor paced the Paladins' attack with 18 points, and Kendra Berry recorded her second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The senior forward also earned a career high five assists. Murphy tallied 11 points, and freshman Martha Robinson rounded out Furman's double figure scoring effort with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Laykyn Ledford topped all rebounders with 12 caroms, helping Furman forge a 51-40 advantage on the boards. The Paladins' strong rebounding effort helped overcome the Buccaneers' shooting advantage as the Charleston Southern converted 44.3 percent from the field (27x61), including 16-of-29 (55.2 percent) in the second half.
Katie Tull's 24 game high 24 points, including 16 over the game's final 20 minutes, led Charleston Southern, and Alston added 21.
Furman erased an early 4-1 deficit with a 16-0 run to take an 17-4 lead on an O'Connor 3-pointer eight minutes into the contest.
The Paladins led 38-27 at halftime and stretched the advantage to 14 on a Murphy jump shot that make it 42-28 a little over a minute into the second half.
A 7-0 spurt by CSU cut it 42-35 following a layup by Helen Terry at the 16:18 mark, after which Furman's lead varied between four and nine points until six minutes to go when an Alston jumper pulled the Buccaneers to within two, 63-61.
CSU remained within striking distance the rest of the way and got within a point at 69-68 on a Tull layup with 2:44 to go. A Murphy free throw made it 70-68, which CSU answered with a game tying layup by Rutledge with a minute and half to go in the game.
Furman wraps up its four-game homestand Tuesday evening when it entertains Erskine in a 7:00 p.m. game at Timmons Arena.
Davidson 71, Radford 62
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Sophia Aleksandravicius had her first career 30-point game, dropping in a career-best 31, and four OCats in all reached double figures as Davidson won its third straight with a 71-62 victory against visiting Radford on Saturday afternoon at John M. Belk Arena.
Aleksandravicius scored 21 of her points in the second half, including seven during a decisive 12-1 run a little over halfway through the period that pushed the Wildcats lead from two out to 13 (58-45), and they never looked back in scoring their fourth straight win at home.
The sophomore tied her career-best in field goals, going 11-for-16, and swishing home nine free throws, while she added nine boards and blocked six shots. The 6-foot-4 forward has blocked 31 shots on the year, 27 coming in the last five games.
Davidson (4-3) put four players in double figures for the first time since last Feb. 6 at UNC Greensboro. Joining Aleksandravicius in double-digits was Ashley Lax with 12 off the bench, while starters Laura Murray and Kristen Johnsen chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Johnsen registered her second double-double of the season with a game-high 11 boards.
Radford (2-4) was led by Da¹Naria Erwin Spencer¹s 21 points, 15 coming in the second half, while Denay Wood had 13.
Aleksandravicius opened up the game scoring eight of the OCats¹ first 15 points to help Davidson to a 15-8 lead with 6:40 on the clock.
Radford came back and went on a quick 8-2 run to cut its deficit to one, 17-16, before Aleksandravicius hit a layup with 2:23 left. Then freshman Sheenka Center, in her first action of the season, scored the final four points, including nailing a three-ball as the shot clock was nearing zero, to give Davidson a 23-17 halftime lead.
After seeing the Highlanders tie things up at 30-all in the early stages of the second period, Laura Murray capped off a 11-2 run with a pair of free throws for a 41-32 Davidson lead with under 12 minutes to go.
Da¹Naria Erwin Spencer drained a three-pointer that got Radford right back in the game as Davidson held just a two point lead, 46-44, at the 8:36 mark.
But, the Wildcats and Aleksandravicius answered back with their decisive
12-1 run after that and then went 9-for-12 from the charity stripe in the last 2:18 to seal the nine-point win.
The OCats finished two made free throws off of tying the single-game record as they went a season-high 32-for-41 for the game, hitting 25-of-33 in the second half.
Davidson now takes a 16-day break for exams and then will prepare for its first Southern Conference game of the season when its travels to Elon, Dec.
20.
GAME NOTES: Davidson evened the all-time series vs. Radford at 2-apiece ...
Barbara Sitton dished out half the OCats¹ 12 assists, getting a season-best six on the day ... Aleksandravicius has now scored 23, 20, and 31 points in her last three games ... Johnsen has four double-doubles total for her career ... the Wildcats¹ 71 points were a season-best ... Davidson made it five years in a row opening up the month of December with a win ... today¹s game was the first of just four contests Davidson will play during the month.
Florida State 68, Western Carolina 48
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Redshirt sophomore Diamond Hunnicutt led all scorers with a career-high 13 points in Western Carolina women's basketball's (105) 68-48 loss to No. 14 Florida State (7-1) Saturday in the Ramsey Center.
Playing its second ranked team in three games, falling to then No. 14 North Carolina 93-36 on November 21, Western Carolina hung tough for most of the contest against the Top-25 Seminoles. Hunnicutt was spurred on with the chance to face her sister Christian, a senior guard for FSU. The elder Hunnicutt, Christian, ended the contest with eight points and four assists.
In the middle of the second half, Western Carolina still had Florida State on its heels. With 9:31 left in the game, Hunnicutt was fouled from behind the three point line and hit 2-of-3 free throws to pull the Catamounts within four points, 50-46.
Western Carolina looked posed to make a run at Florida State. In a five minute span, from the 9:14 mark until 4:37 left in the game, Florida State was held to just three field goals. The Catamounts had their chances, trotting to the free throw line eight times, but couldn't capitalize, going 0-9 from the charity stripe.
In the final four minutes, Florida State went on a 10-2 run to blow the game open.
Western Carolina tied the game, with 9:58 left in the first half. Junior forward Caitlin Hollifield scored two of her eight points to knot the game at 15. The Seminoles' Alexa Deluzio, who led the Seminoles with 12 points, answered with a layup to give Florida State the lead again.
The Catamounts would tie the game two more times, the final one with 5:29 left in the half. Emily Clarke connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key, off an assist by Kendra Carroll, to make the score 24 all. Florida State answered yet again with a layup by Cierra Bravard and the Seminoles would never tie or trail the rest of the game.
Redshirt sophomore Janae' McKinney was solid on the boards for Western Carolina ripping down a game-leading eight rebounds. Overall, Western Carolina was out rebounded by Florida State 42-34.
Western Carolina committed 16 turnovers but forced Florida State to cough it up 18. The Catamounts scored 26 of their 48 points in the paint and picked up 14 on second chance points.
The Catamounts close out their three-game home stand by hosting Charlotte on Wednesday. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. in the Ramsey Center.