Chattanooga 76, Belmont 65CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team put together a strong second half behind the efforts of seniors Faith Dupree and Taylor Hall who combined for 26 in the latter period for a 76-65 win over Belmont Sunday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena.
Dupree celebrated her 23rd birthday Sunday with a game-best 21 points leading five players in double figures for the first time since UTC defeated Alabama last year in Tuscaloosa. She was 8-of-18 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line while tying her career best with three blocked shots and grabbed six boards.
She was joined in double digits by Hall with 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocked shots in 40 minutes. Senior Meghan Downes, and sophomore Tatianna Jackson and Alicia Payne each added 10 points.
After trailing 36-27 at halftime, Chattanooga outscored the Bruins 49-29 in the second. The Lady Mocs scored the first seven points of the first half sparked by an old-fashioned 3-point play by Payne and cut the score to 36-34 less than three minutes into the half.
Belmont responded with an 8-2 run of its own to push its lead back out to eight, 44-36 at the 15:02 mark, but the Lady Mocs would not be held back. Downes cut to the lane and Dupree fed her the ball for a layup sparking a 10-2 rip to tie the game 46-46 just two-and-a-half minutes later.
Belmont briefly took back the lead on a pair of free throws by Torie Vaught to make it 48-46 with 11:56 to play, but Dupree hit one of her eight jumpers to give UTC the lead followed another 3-point play by Payne to make it 51-48 at the 11:14 mark.
The game stayed tight over the next 5:17 with the Bruins hanging close and tying the contest twice more before the Lady Mocs pulled away.
With 5:28 to play, Chattanooga put together some good ball movement with strong passes and reverses, getting the ball to senior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) who drained a wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner. Dupree followed that with a pair of free throws and Chattanooga went on an 11-2 run pushing the lead to 69-60, its largest to that point of the game.
Belmont cut into the lead with four straight free throws down the stretch to make it 69-64, but UTC allowed just one more point over the final 1:30. After scoring its final field goal of the game at the 7:20 mark, Belmont went 0-7 from the field but was 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
The Lady Mocs outscored Belmont 34-22 in the pain and got 26 points from the bench. UTC scored 14 points off 13 Belmont turnovers. The Bruins outrebounded UTC 37-33 and got 17 second chance points off 15 offensive boards compared to the Lady Mocs’ 13 points off 11 offensive rebounds.
UTC was 27-of-56 (48.2%) from the field and shot 55.6% (15-27) in the second half. At the charity stripe, the Lady Mocs were just 1-of-4 in the first half and 18-of-22 in the second. Belmont was held to just 8-of-26 (30.8%) in the second half and shot 37 percent for the game but scorched it from the free throw line making 22-of-26.
VCU 93, Elon 76RICHMOND, Va. – A double-double by Sam Coffer and three players in double figures was not enough for the Elon women’s basketball team (2-1) as VCU (2-1) handed the Phoenix its first loss of the season in a 93-76 final today, Nov. 17, in the Verizon Wireless Center.
The Phoenix made 30-of-71 shots from the field to shoot 42 percent, while the Rams went 36-of-74 to shoot 49 percent and scored 40 points in the paint. Both teams made nine threes, while VCU won the slight edge on the boards, 47-45. Elon shot 58 percent from the charity stripe compared to 55 percent for VCU.
The difference for the day came on turnovers as the Rams held a 23-to-11 assist-to-turnover ratio, while the Phoenix turned the ball over 19 times.
Coffer scored 18 points, going 8-of-13 from the field to mark a new career high in field goals made, and hauled down 10 boards to mark her second double-double of the season. Zora Stephenson recorded a season-high 21 points after an 8-for-13 performance from the field, including 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. Kelsey Harris finished with 16 points, while also recording six assists and no turnovers.
Elon erased a six-point first half deficit, using an old-fashioned three-point play by Harris and a jumper by Lenaira Ruffin to take a 13-11 lead at the 14:41 mark. The Rams had an answer to everything the Phoenix on offense, managing to go up by as much as 13 in the opening frame. A three by Lauren Brown with six seconds on the clock closed the gap to 10 for the Phoenix as VCU led 49-39 at the half.
Harris led the Phoenix in the first period with 12 points, while Stephenson scored 10 with the help of two threes. The maroon and gold shot 44 percent from the field compared to 53 percent for VCU. Both teams were even on the boards with 22 rebounds each.
The Phoenix cut the deficit to seven, 55-48, in the early minutes of the second half after a jumper by Coffer and a three by Stephenson at the 15:59 mark. Elon continued to go to work, making it a six-point difference, 60-54, after Coffer grabbed and offensive board and put the ball in the bucket to force a Rams timeout with 13:57 on the clock.
With VCU still leading by just six, the Rams managed a 9-0 run in a three-minute span to move the score to 72-57. Stephenson answered with a three to end the drought for the Phoenix, 72-60, but the Rams continued to surge and held on to its advantage to defeat the maroon and gold for the first time.