Chattanooga 66, UAB 57

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Ashlen Dewart posted her second double-double of the year and led the Lady Mocs to a 66-57 win over UAB at Bartow Arena Saturday afternoon to close out the non-conference slate at 7-2.

Chattanooga improves to 9-2 overall and begins returns to Southern Conference play this weekend with two league wins already in its pocket. The Blazers, led by Ashley Grimes’ 17 points and five assists, move to 9-4 overall.

After shooting 8-of-29 from the field in the first half, the Lady Mocs came back strong in the second making 13-of-25 (52%) from the field and 4-of-9 from the 3-point line. Dewart scored the first eight points for Chattanooga for 15 of her second half points and closed out the game with 23 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double this season.

Dewart made all three of her attempts to start the second half and hit both free throws to draw Chattanooga to within two points, 33-31,  with 16:24 to play. Senior Kylie Lambert drained the second of her two 3-pointers to give Chattanooga its third lead of the game, 34-33, with 15:58 to play.

The two teams traded the lead over the next six minutes with UAB getting out by as much as four points, 40-36 in the run. Down 42-39 at the 9:42 mark, Chattanooga sophomore Ka’Vonne Towns hit a layup and freshman Tatianna Jackson followed with a free throw to knot the game for the fourth and last time at 42-42.

Towns hit a 3-pointer to give the Lady Mocs the lead at the 6:19 mark, 45-42 and Chattanooga never looked back. UTC closed out the game making 6-of-8 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line to snare the win.

Dewart was 9-of-15 from the field and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe in 31 minutes. Jackson was 9-of-11 from the free throw line for 11 points, six rebounds, one assist, a steal and a blocked shot. Lambert was the third UTC player in double figures with 10 points and had seven rebounds, all in the first half. Senior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) dished out five assists while junior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) had four assists and three steals. Towns was 2-of-2 from the 3-point arc and had eight points and three steals.

The Lady Mocs outrebounded the Blazers 43-28 and had 16 offensive boards to UAB’s nine. Chattanooga outscored UAB 20-3 on second chance points and had 23 points off 16 Blazer miscues.

Amber Jones’ had 14 points for the Blazers and a team-high seven rebounds. Karisma Chapman had nine points, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots while Khalilah Watson pulled down seven boards, had three dishes and four steals.

Chattanooga travels this weekend to North Carolina to take on UNCG Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. followed by a Monday matchup at Elon at 7 p.m. Listen live on ESPN 105.1 FM and follow the stats online at GoMocs.com.