Chattanooga 74, Wofford 67
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- After trailing 7-0 to start the game, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team battled back to grab a 74-67 win over the visiting Wofford Terriers Friday night at the McKenzie Arena in Southern Conference action.
The Lady Mocs remain undefeated in league play with a 6-0 mark and improve to 11-4 overall while Wofford drops to 2-4 in the SoCon and 9-6 on the year.
Wofford went 3-for-4 with an offensive rebound and forced a UTC turnover to jump out to a 7-0 lead in just over a minute of play. Chattanooga got on the board with a 3-pointer from junior Kylie Lambert at the 18:08 mark of the first half, but the Terriers would hold the lead until midway through the half.
With 9:51 to play in the opening stanza, sophomore Alex Black sparked a 13-2 UTC run with a 3-pointer from the left side to cut Wofford’s lead to 18-17. She would then get a defensive rebound and assist senior Whitney Hood on the other end and followed that up with a a steal and make a layup on a fast break to put Chattanooga up 21-18.
Hood capped off the 13-2 run with a layup at the 5:56 mark of the first half to give the Lady Mocs their largest lead of the first half, 27-20. However, apart from a jumper from junior Kayla Christopher at the 4:38 mark, Chattanooga would go cold from the field missing its final seven attempts of the half and Wofford took a 30-29 halftime lead.
The second started out with seven lead changes and three ties before the Lady Mocs took control with a 9-2 run bookended by free throws from Hood. After nearly a four-minute scoring drought by both teams, Hood drew a foul from Wofford’s Daniella Motley with 8:11 to play and drained two of her career-high tying 10 free throws to give Chattanooga a 49-47 lead, one it would not relinquish.
Terrier Morgan Wrightson had a quick answer with a layup on the other end to knot it back up 49-49 with 8:02 remaining. Wrightson would foul Lambert moments later and Chattanooga retook the lead 51-49 on her two free throws. Just seconds later, the Lady Mocs forced a turnover by the Terriers and Christopher’s steal led to a fastbreak layup by Black and a minute later Hood’s layup gave the Lady Mocs’ some breathing room at 55-49 with 6:17 on the clock.
Hood converted the first of two free throws to cap off the nine-point run at the 5:31 mark and the two teams would trade points over the remaining minutes for the final74-67 score. Chattanooga went 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the waning minutes with sophomore Taylor Hall hitting all four of hers in the final 12 seconds to seal the win.
Hood led all scorers with 24 points, a season-high and had six rebounds, four assists and was 10-of-12 from the charity stripe. Black was 2-of-3 from the 3-point line with 14 points and a career-high seven rebounds and two blocked shots in 25 minutes.
Christopher went 3-of-4 from the 3-point line with 13 points, two assists and two steals while Hall pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds and was 6-of-8 from the free throw line for eight points. Lambert just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
Chattanooga returns to action to host Furman Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Roundhouse. The Paladins are 9-7 overall and 5-2 in league play with losses to Davidson and Samford. For tickets, check the official website of Chattanooga athletics, GoMocs.com.
Samford 71, Furman 66 (OT)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Samford freshman forward Taylor Reece scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds in leading the Bulldog women’s basketball team to a 71-66 overtime win over Furman in Southern Conference action Friday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.
With the win, Samford improves to 9-6 overall and 4-2 in Southern Conference play. Furman drops to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in league games.
Reece made 8-of-13 shots from the floor in the win. Senior guard Paige Anderson scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Junior guard Jazmine Martin added 11 points in the win. Senior guard Jazmine Powers scored nine points and dished out five assists.
For Furman, Brittany Hodges led the way with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Kaitlin Murphy scored 13 points, while Raegan Thompson scored 12 points and Lashana Booker added 10 points for the Paladins.
In the first half, Samford jumped out to an early 7-2 lead with 15:31 to go after a free throw by Powers. Furman fought back to take a 14-12 lead with 7:55 to go in the opening period after a three-pointer by Murphy.
In the final 7:30 of the first half there were four ties and eight lead changes with neither team able to lead by more than two points. With Furman leading, 28-26, Martin hit a three-pointer with 51 seconds left to give Samford a 29-28 lead, which the Bulldogs took into halftime.
Early in the second half, Furman came back to take a 35-33 lead with 16:43 left after a layup by Thompson. With Furman leading, 38-35, Samford fought back to take a three-point lead at 43-40 with 12:31 left after a three-pointer by Reece. Furman scored four of the next five points to tie the score at 44-44 with 10:24 to go.
With Samford trailing, 51-50, the Bulldogs went on an 8-1 run to take a six-point lead, matching the largest lead for either team, at 58-52 with 3:55 remaining after a layup by Martin. With Samford leading, 60-54, Furman scored the final six points of regulation to tie the score at 60-60 on a pair of free throws by Hodges with 23 seconds to go.
In the overtime, Samford jumped out to a six-point lead at 67-61 with 1:57 left after a pair of free throws by Reece. Furman’s Sarah Durdaller then hit a three-pointer to pull the Paladins to within three points at 67-64 with 1:43 left in the game. A layup by Reece and a free throw by Ketcham stretched Samford’s lead back out to six at 70-64 with 1:01 to go.
Furman’s Murphy then hit a layup to cut the Samford lead to 70-66 with four seconds to go, but a late free throw by Martin made the final score 71-66.
For the game, the score was tied 12 times and there were 14 lead changes. Samford outrebounded Furman, 45-43. The Bulldogs made 45.0 percent of their shots overall, including 56.3 percent from three-point range. Furman made 34.2 percent of its shots overall and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc.
Samford will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 15, when the Bulldogs play host to the Wofford Terriers. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.
Elon 61, Georgia Southern 60
ELON, N.C. – Aiesha Harper’s coast-to-coast layup with 3.5 seconds remaining on Friday night, Jan. 13, in Alumni Gym was the difference-maker that lifted the Elon women’s basketball team to a one-point win, 61-60, over the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles in a key Southern Conference matchup.
After a pair of Meredith Frye free throws put Georgia Southern (5-11, 1-6 SoCon) up one, 60-59, Elon (7-9, 3-4 SoCon) had the inbound under the Lady Eagles’ basket with 10 seconds remaining. After a quick give-and-go to Kelsey Evans and back to Harper, the senior point guard knifed through the GSU defense 94-feet to the basket for the layup with 3.5 ticks left on the clock to put the Phoenix up one, 61-60.
Janay Wilson took one last three-point heave for the Lady Eagles as time expired, but it was all for naught and the Phoenix registered the one-point victory.
Including the game-winner, Harper finished the night with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field to go along with six assists. Harper, the SoCon's leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, has recorded six or more assists in six games this season.
Ali Ford finished with a team-high 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting. All five of Ford’s makes came from long distance, as she now sits with 229 career three-pointers – six shy of breaking Lorretta Lawson’s all-time record of 234 makes from beyond the arc.
Kelsey Harris was the second Elon player to score in double figures, as she finished the night with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field as well as a 4-of-8 clip from the free throw line.
Our defense helped us out tremendously in the first half, especially when we were pressing,” Smith added. “[Georgia Southern] made adjustments and didn’t make it easy for us in the second half, but we kept our composure and battled for all 40 minutes tonight.”
Elon won the battle on the boards, 39-34, turning in 11 second-chance points off 13 offensive rebounds. Harris and Sam Coffer both finished with seven boards in the win.
Elon outscored Georgia Southern 18-16 in the paint, due in part to eight points off the bench for rookie Shannen Cocraham, playing in only her second collegiate game.
The Phoenix went into the locker room with a 37-30 lead, but the Lady Eagles battled back to tie and take the lead with 9:28 left after a pair of Frye freebies put Elon behind, 47-46.
Georgia Southern went up by as many as four points in the second half, but the Phoenix battled back after a Harris jumper and Ford three gave Elon a one-point edge, 51-50, with 7:36 to play.
The score was tied on 11 occasions, including the final time with 10 seconds remaining on the front-end of Frye’s free one-and-one free throw attempt.
Elon closes out its three-game homestand on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 15, when it welcomes College of Charleston to Alumni Gym for a 2 p.m. tip.
College of Charleston 52, UNCG 42
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Sophomore Alyssa Frye scored a game-high 14 points, including a late three-pointer, to help the College of Charleston women's basketball team surge to a 52-42 road victory over UNCG on Friday night at Fleming Gymnasium.
The Cougars (3-13, 2-5 SoCon) had nine players contribute to the final tally in a game which saw five ties and 15 lead changes until the Cougars went on a 13-2 run over the final four minutes to defeat the Spartans (2-13, 1-6 SoCon).
Junior Megan Fischer junior Latisha Harris and freshman Mikaela Hopkins each added eight points.
The Cougars held UNCG to 31.5 percent shooting from the field (17-of-54) to capture their first road win of the season and end an eight-game losing streak since a 49-44 win over Wofford on Dec. 5.
Up next, CofC will close out its two-game SoCon road swing at Elon on Sunday, Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. (ET) in Elon, N.C.