Chattanooga 68, Wofford 54

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior transfer Ashlen Dewart scored a season-high 29 points and posted her first double-double as a Lady Moc with 12 rebounds, to lead UTC to a 68-54 win over Wofford.

The win is the 16th consecutive home-court victory for Chattanooga who also ran its win streak against Wofford to 31. Chattanooga improves to 5-1 overall and is now 1-0 in Southern Conference play while the Terriers fall to 4-2 on the year and 0-1 in league action.

Senior Kayla Christopher, who was honored before the game for her scoring her 1,000th career point and climbing to fourth all-time at UTC for 3-pointers made, added 16 points in the contest making 5-of-10 from the field with two 3-pointers and was 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

The Lady Mocs started the game with an 8-0 run including six points from Dewart who had 12 of Chattanooga’s first 17 points by wearing out both sides of the basket. UTC continued its push on the Terriers running the score up to 26-16 for its largest lead of the game to that point with 7:05 to play in the first half.

Wofford, however, would not go away and went on a 10-0 tear to knot the game at 26-26 at the 4:46 mark. The Lady Mocs responded with a 10-4 run started by a Dewart layup at the 4:21 mark. Christopher added in seven points, her first scores of the contest, before Dewart capped off the run with a free throw to make it a very close 36-30 at halftime lead for Chattanooga.

The Lady Mocs started the second half with a 7-2 run to get out to an 11-point lead, 43-32 at the 16:35 mark of the half, but the Terriers fought back with scoring from five different players to cut the lead to 47-42 with 8:27 to play. After the Lady Mocs regained its 11-point lead, Wofford hit for eight straight points on a pair of 3-pointers from Jordan Frazier and a layup by Morgan Wrightson to make it a three-point contest with 5:51 to play.

It would be all Chattanooga from there. UTC outscored the Terriers 15-4 down the stretch for the final 68-54 tally. Senior Kylie Lambert had six points, five rebounds and three steals and junior Taylor Hall contributed five points, eight rebounds and tied her career-highs for steals (4) and assists (5) in the win.

Wofford was led by Rachel Brittenham with 17 points, six assists and four steals. Daniella Motley, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, had 12 points and five rebounds in 33 minutes. Khadijah Joyner had four points and seven rebounds and recorded four of the Terriers seven blocked shots.

Chattanooga was 25-of-61 (41%) from the field to the Terriers’ 22-of-59 (37.3%) performance. Wofford was 6-of-23 from beyond the arc with three from Brittenham while the Lady Mocs put in 4-of-15. UTC shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the free throw line while Wofford sank all four of its attempts.

The Lady Mocs had 15 assists and 16 turnovers with 13 steals while forcing Wofford into 17 miscues that resulted in 18 points to the Terriers’ 10 off turnovers. Chattanooga outrebounded Wofford 50-31 and turned 21 offensive boards into 20 second chance points. The Terrier bench outscored Chattanooga 17-9 while the Lady Mocs had a 36-24 points in the paint advantage.

Chattanooga will remain at home to host Furman Saturday at 5 p.m. as part of a double-header with the men’s team. The Mocs will host Davidson at 7:30 p.m. at the Roundhouse. Call the McKenzie Arena box office 423-266-MOCS (6627) or go online at GoMocs.com for tickets. As part of the SoCon Tipoff Celebration, men’s tickets may be purchased for the game for just $2.