Chattanooga 65, College of Charleston 48
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defeated the College of Charleston 65-48 Monday night at the McKenzie Arena in Southern Conference women's basketball action and handed Head Coach Wes Moore his 500th career win.
The win was also Moore's 300th win at Chattanooga and his 200th Southern Conference regular season win. The Lady Mocs improve to 10-11 overall and 7-5 in SoCon action while the Cougars fall to 6-16 overall and 3-10 in league play.
The College of Charleston opened the game on a 10-2 run behind eight points from Tonia Gerty while Chattanooga struggled making just 1-of-11 from the field including a 0-for-4 effort from beyond the arc. The Cougars built its lead to double digits at 14-4 before the Lady Mocs found its offense and managed to tie it up 14-14 on a 10-0 run capped by a layup from junior Tenisha Townsend with 6:56 to play in the half.
The Lady Mocs knotted the score twice more but was unable to get past the College of Charleston and trailed 24-22 at the half. Chattanooga shot just 29 percent (9-of-31) in the first half, was 1-for-8 from beyond the arc and 3-of-7 from the free throw line. The Cougars went 10-for-29 from the field making 3-of-11 from the 3-point line and made it only free throw of the stanza.
At the start of the second half, the Lady Mocs gave up a quick basket to Charleston before going on an 18-5 tear capped by a 3-pointer from freshman Destiny Bramblett. The run started with a 3-pointer from Townsend and UTC took the lead for good at 27-26 on a pair of free throws from junior Whitney Hood.
Townsend's second 3-pointer capped off a 10-0 run and the Lady Mocs led 32-26 with 15:02 to play. Another eight points over the next five minutes gave the Lady Mocs their first double-digit lead at 40-29 with 11:28 to play.
The Cougars, however, would not go away and got to within six, 40-34 on five points from Alyssa Frye in less than a minute. Townsend and Hood responded with five points to push the lead back to 11, 45-34 with 9:08 to play.
Chattanooga would continue to push its offense and, on back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Kayla Christopher, the Lady Mocs lead jumped 59-42 with less than five minutes remaining. UTC built its lead to 19 twice on shots from freshman Taylor Hall who had six points and two steals in 10 minutes of playing time.
Hood led all scorers with 17 points and had a team-high eight boards. Christopher went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and had 16 point along with a game-high-tying six assists. Townsend had 13 points on a 3-for-4 showing from the 3-point line, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists.
The Lady Mocs had 19 assists on the night to just nine turnovers, both one shy of season bests. Chattanooga scored 23 points off of 13 forced turnovers and gave up just nine to the Cougars. CofC got 25 points from its bench led by Megan Fisher who had 11 points behind a 3-for-5 showing from beyond the arc. Gerty led the Cougars with 14 points, had eight rebounds and four assists with just one steal. Janae Smith dropped in seven points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Frye had nine points and three boards.
Chattanooga will remain at home to host preseason Southern Conference favorite Samford Wednesday night at the Roundhouse in the second women's basketball installment of the Southern Rail Rivalry Series.
The Bulldogs are 15-6 overall and 8-4 in league play. The two teams tangled just two weeks ago in Birmingham, Ala., with Samford coming out on top 61-49.
Appalachian State 62, Western Carolina 36
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball overcame a slow start, to complete the season sweep of its Southern Conference foe Western Carolina Monday afternoon, handing WCU a 62-36 loss on its home floor. The victory is ASU's seventh straight and improves Appalachian to a 17-4 overall record and 11-2 SoCon mark, while the Catamounts drop to 6-15 on the season and 4-8 in league play.
ASU erased began the second period on a 15-0 run to take a commanding 37-18 lead.
The stingy Mountaineer defense limited Western Carolina without a field goal for the opening six and half minutes of second half action and held the Catamounts to just nine points in the first 12 minutes of the second period.
It was Sam Ramirez that gave Appalachian the much-needed offensive boost, scoring nine points during the run, including, draining two-three pointers and nailing three free throws.
Ramirez could not be stopped offensively in the second half as she finished yet again as the Mountaineers leading scorer, recording a game-high 19 points, with 16 coming in the second-half. The lone senior now has 1385 career-points and passes Beth Laney Queen to move into fifth on ASU's all-time scoring list.
That was all the Mountaineers needed, as the rout was on and there was no looking back for the Apps, with the second-half surge proving to be the difference maker in the contest.
Appalachian outscored its counter-part 35-18 in the second period to cruise to the 26 point win.
Although the second-half was dominated by the Black and Gold, the Mountaineers struggled to find their footing early on, as they went almost three minutes without a bucket to start the game, finding itself in a 4-0 hole early on.
Thanks in part to a spark by Anna Freeman, ASU woke up and took a seven-point advantage midway through the first half.
Despite turnovers plaguing Appalachian, as the squad coughed up the basketball 10 times in the opening period, and not being able to get anything going on the offensive front, as the team went almost 10 minutes without a field goal, ASU was able to hold on to its lead.
Anna Freeman continued to provide a boost, and Ramirez drilled a trey for her first points of the contest with seconds left on the clock until the half, as the Mountaineers grabbed a 27-18 leading heading into intermission.
Taking some of its newly found momentum from the closing minutes of the first half, Appalachian posted an un-answerable run at the start of the second, and that spark propelled the Mountaineers to the lopsided victory.
With a busy week ahead, ASU has little time to rest, as the Apps return to the High Country to host Davidson. The game between the two teams is set for Wednesday, February 2 and is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. from the Holmes Center.
Furman 67, UNCG 42
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Kaitlin Murphy scored 17 points and Furman used a strong first half surge to cruise to a 67-42 victory over UNC Greensboro in women's Southern Conference basketball play Monday evening at Timmons Arena.
The win, which opened a season-long six-game home stretch for Furman (9-12, 5-7 SoCon), improved the Paladins to 8-0 at home this season and avenged an early season 10-point loss at UNC Greensboro (10-11, 7-6 SoCon), which lost for the fourth time in its last five games.
In securing its fifth SoCon victory, which eclipsed last season's four league triumphs, Furman shot 41.7 percent from the field (20-of-48), including 7-of-16 from 3-point range (43.8 percent), and 20-of-23 from the free throw line (87.0 percent).
Both teams committed 26 turnovers, but Furman outscored the Spartans 27-14 off the miscues and limited the Spartans to just 29.1 percent shooting (16-of-55). UNCG also converted just 1-of-9 shots from 3-point range.
Kelly O'Connor followed Murphy with 16 points and Raegan Thompson contributed 10 points while matching her career high with nine rebounds.
Monique Floyd led UNCG with nine points and, in the process, topped 1,000 career points (1,007).
Furman led 12-8 nine minutes into the game before reeling off 12 consecutive points en route to a 24-8 advantage following a Martha Robinson jump shot with 7:01 to go.
The Paladins backed up that run with a 10-2 spurt to take total control. A Murphy 3-pointer with 2:52 remaining stretched the margin to 34-10 and helped the Paladins carry a 39-16 advantage into intermission.
Furman maintained its huge lead in the second half, with UNC Greensboro only getting as close as 20 points at 51-31 with 10 minutes to go before the Paladins answered with a 10-1 run for a 61-32 cushion - its largest of the contest - following a Murphy free throw with 4:47 to go.
The Paladins forged a 39-31 rebounding advantage.
Furman's next opponent is Samford, which comes to Timmons Arena on Feb. 5 for a 2:00 p.m. game.
Davidson 69, Elon 65
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Five Wildcats clipped the double-digit mark in points, led by Sophia Aleksandravicius' game-high 18 points, and Davidson scored its fourth straight win with a 69-65 home victory over Elon in Southern Conference women's basketball action on Monday evening.
The Wildcats reached the .500 mark for the first time since late November, improving to 10-10 overall and upped their league mark to 5-6. The win was their third straight in SoCon play and fifth in the last six games overall as they closed the month of January at 6-4.
Elon fell to 15-7 overall and 9-4 in SoCon play.
Aleksandravicius reached double figures in points for the 12th game in a row, going 7-of-16 from the field and adding four free throws for her 18 points. She also added seven boards and picked up four of the 'Cats six blocks, continuing to increase her single-season school record with 66.
Joining the sophomore was Ashley Lax with 12 points, while Laura Murray, Katrin Chiemeka and Jasmine Calin were all tied with 10 each. It's the first time this season Davidson has put five players in double figures.
Elon was paced by Ali Ford's 13, while three other Phoenix hit the 10-point mark.
Much like the first meeting, which was won by Elon, 61-60, in December, it was another closely knit contest, coming down to the last two minutes. There were 10 ties and five lead changes for the game.
Down 64-63 with 2:33 remaining, Aleksandravicius drew a foul and canned both free throws to give Davidson a 65-64 lead with 2:17 on the clock.
Elon then had two chances to take the lead, but missed its opportunities and Calin drew a foul then with 1:03 left. She hit 1-of-2 to push the lead out to 66-64. Then with 52 ticks, Lei Lei Hairston was fouled and hit 1-of-2 free throws cut the deficit back to one, 66-65.
Calin then came up big with an offensive rebound after a Wildcat miss, and with 34 seconds she was fouled. She hit the second of two free throws to push the lead back to two at 67-65.
After Elon turned the ball over, Barbara Sitton was fouled and hit the first of two free throws for a 68-65 lead and Laura Murray iced the win with a defensive rebound on Elon's last shot to tie things up with a three-ball, and hit the second of two free throws for the four-point win.
The Wildcats looked to be cruising to a win midway through the period, holding the game's largest lead at nine, 59-50, after Murray hit a pair of free throws with 6:32 on the clock. But Elon turned up its defensive pressure with a full-court press, resulting in a 14-4 run to take a 64-63 lead.
The first half saw Davidson erase a 14-8 Elon lead with an 11-5 run to knot things up at 19-all on an Aleksandravicius layup with 7:17 on the clock. From there it went back-and-forth until Lax drained a three-ball at the top of the arc to give the Wildcats a 26-23 edge and they would go into halftime up, 32-30.
Davidson takes back to the road when it plays at Appalachian State on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Davidson snapped its two-game losing streak in the all-time series, running its record to 14-6 vs. Elon ... Aleksandravicius is averaging 17.4 ppg and 7.9 rpg during her 12-game double-digit streak ... the double-figure game for Chiemeka was her second in a row after scoring a career-high 12 points at Longwood ... the 'Cats four-game win streak is their the longest this year ... both teams scored the majority of their points in the paint as Elon had 44 and Davidson 40 ... starting today, the Wildcats are in the midst of play seven games in the next 15 days.
Samford 62, Georgia Southern 55
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- The Samford women's basketball team earned a hard-fought Southern Conference win over Georgia Southern, 62-55, Monday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.
With the win, Samford improves to 16-6 overall and 9-4 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs' win paired with Elon's loss to Davidson, moves Samford into a tie with Elon for second place in the SoCon standings, just two games behind first-place Appalachian State. Georgia Southern drops to 9-13 overall and 6-7 in league play.
The game was tight throughout the second half. Samford, however, hit some key shots down the stretch and made 8-of-8 free-throw attempts in the last five minutes to pull out the win.
Samford was led in scoring by senior guard Emily London with 22 points. London made 9-of-9 attempts from the free-throw line. Fellow senior Savannah Hill had 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while junior forward Hannah Dawson added 10 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Jazmine Powers came off the bench to spark the team in the second half with six points, hitting key shots down the stretch.
For Georgia Southern, Samantha Williams scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Meredyth Frye added 13 points for the Lady Eagles.
After Samford fell behind early, 5-2, the Bulldogs went on a 13-0 run to take a 15-5 lead with 12:05 to go in the first half after a layup by Shelby Campbell. Georgia Southern fought back to cut the lead to seven at 17-10 with 8:28 left in the first half, but a three-pointer by Paige Anderson pushed Samford's lead back out to10 at 20-10 with 8:19 left in the half.
The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes. With Samford leading, 24-14 with 2:36 to go in the half, the Lady Eagles scored the final four points of the half to cut Samford's lead to 24-18 heading into halftime.
Georgia Southern cut the Samford lead to four at 24-20 with 17:46 to go in the game. Samford pushed its lead back out to seven at 29-22 with 16:22 left after a three-point play by Hill.
With Samford leading, 32-24, Georgia Southern went on an 11-2 run to take a 35-34 lead with 12:11 to go in the game. The teams went back-and-forth over the next several minutes, with five ties and a lead change occurring in less than five minutes.
With Samford trailing, 46-44, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to take a 51-46 lead with 4:34 to go after a pair of free throws by London. Free throws by London and Dawson and some key defensive stops down the stretch helped seal the win for Samford.
As a team, Samford made 20-of-21 attempts from the free-throw line. Samford shot 36.0 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from three-point range, while GSU made 42.0 percent of its shots and 38.5 percent of its three-pointers. Samford out-rebounded Georgia Southern, 37-24.
Samford will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 2, when the Bulldogs play at Chattanooga.