Chattanooga 75, Wofford 36CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- There’s no place like home and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team proved that Saturday night with a 75-36 win over Wofford at the McKenzie Arena. Chattanooga improves to 15-3 overall and 7-0 in league play while the Terriers fall to 3-14 on the year and 1-5 against the Southern Conference.
Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster cleared the bench and played all freshmen in the final six minutes as he picked up his 798th career win. All 13 Chattanooga players found the scoring column led by senior Ashlen Dewart with a game-high 19 points in 22 minutes.
Despite the scoring effort from UTC, the game started rather slow with neither team finding the net for nearly two-and-a-half minutes before Dewart dropped in the first points with 17:35 to play in the first.
Wofford tied it up and that’s as close as it would be the rest of the game as Chattanooga reeled off the next nine points to take an 11-2 lead with 14:35 to play on a 3-pointer from freshman Chelsey Shumpert. She was 2-of-5 from the 3-point line and 3-of-4 from the free throw line for nine points. She added three rebound, five assists and three steals.
Senior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) hit a jumper with 4:56 to play in the opening stanza to give Chattanooga its largest lead of the half, 32-10 and UTC would lead 34-14 at intermission.
The second half saw Chattanooga continue its offensive push, eventually leading by as much as 42 points on a jumper from freshman Moses Johnson with 2:54 to play. But it was also a defensive game for UTC who held Wofford to just 36 points, the fewest by any Chattanooga opponent this year.
Chattanooga owned the paint Saturday night with a 48-8 advantage over Wofford while the bench outscored the Terriers 35-15.
Davidson 79, Georgia Southern 66STATESBORO, Ga. — Junior Hannah Early went off for 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half in helping Davidson pull away from Georgia Southern, 79-66, Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse in Southern Conference women’s basketball action.
Davidson netted its third straight win to reach .500 for the first time since the second week of the season, moving to 9-9 and 6-1 in league play. The Eagles fell to 5-13 overall and 3-4 in the SoCon.
Early finished 9-of-16 from the floor, including 6-for-9 in the second half. All three of her three-balls came in a 19-7 run by the Wildcats that turned a 56-54 lead into a commanding 75-61 advantage with 2:32 left in the game. The junior scored 12 of the ‘Cats’ 19 points.
Laura Murray followed with her 84th career double figure scoring game, getting 19 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds. Dakota Dukes added 10 points.
GSU put four players in double digits, led by Anna Claire Knight’s 19 points, 10 of them coming in the first half. MiMi DuBose chipped in 17, but just two after halftime, while Briana Jones and Angel McGowan scored 10 apiece. Danielle Spencer pulled in 11 rebounds.
Davidson finished the game shooting 44.1 percent, while holding the Eagles to 37.5 percent and forcing 21 turnovers, which turned into 29 Wildcat points.
Down 38-36 at the break, the Wildcats took over the lead for good on a Dukes’ layup inside to make it 44-42 with 15:58 remaining. Following the game-changing run, they would lead by as many as 16 (77-61) on two of free throws by Dukes with two minutes left.
The first half featured a pair of runs by both teams. The Eagles raced out to a 22-9 lead with just under 11 minutes to go in the half. They used four triples in grabbing the lead, three of them combined by DuBose and Knight.
Davidson responded with a 17-4 spurt over the next six minutes to tie things up at 26-all on a pair of fast-break layups by Lillian McCabe and Shannon Eriksson with 5:46 left.
After the Wildcats had a brief 36-35 lead on two Rachel Piles’ free throws with 42 ticks left, DuBose capped her solid first half off with a three-point play to give her 15 points for the half and GSU held a two-point lead going into the locker room.
Samford 59, Furman 58BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford freshman guard Clara Young hit a jumper with 14 seconds left, and the Bulldog women’s basketball team held off Furman on its final possession for a 59-58 Southern Conference win Saturday afternoon at the Pete Hanna Center.
Four Samford players scored in double figures in the win, led by freshman Hannah Nichols with 12 points. Senior Christy Robinson scored 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a career-high seven assists. Freshmen Young and Kassidy Blevins both set career highs with 10 points each.
For Furman, Brittany Hodges and Holli Wilkins scored 18 points each. Sarah Durdaller had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Paladins.
Samford trailed by eight points, 53-45, with 4:30 to go in the game. The Bulldogs, however, went on a 10-1 run to take a 55-54 lead with 2:42 to go after a free throw by Nichols. After Furman’s Whitney Bunn tied the game with a free throw with 2:24 to go, Young hit a layup to give Samford a 57-55 lead.
Furman’s Durdaller then hit a three-pointer to give the Paladins a 58-57 lead with 28 seconds to go. Young then gave Samford its final lead with her jumper with 14 seconds to go at 59-58. Furman had one final shot to win the game, but Wilkins missed a jumper and Samford came away with the win.
In the first half, Samford got off to a hot start, racing out to a 13-2 lead with 15:00 to go in the half after a layup by Ellen Riggins. The Bulldogs built their lead out to 12 points at 18-6 with 13:12 to go in the first half following a three-pointer by Young. Furman fought back to cut the Samford lead to just five points at 20-15 with 9:11 to go in the first half after two free throws by Wilkins.
Samford scored the next eight points to take a game-high 13-point lead at 28-15 with 5:45 to go in the first half after two free throws by Lydia McGee. With Samford leading, 30-17, Furman closed the half on a 6-2 run to make the score 32-23 at halftime.
Furman closed to within two points early in the second half at 32-30 with 17:04 to go after two free throws by Hodges. With Samford leading, 34-32, the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 run to push their lead back out to nine points at 43-34 with 11:05 to play after a layup by Nichols.
Furman answered with a 13-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 47-43 with 7:42 to go after a layup by Hodges. After Samford’s Brittany Stevens made a free throw to cut the lead to three at 47-44, Furman scored six of the next seven points to take an eight-point lead at 53-45, setting the stage for Samford’s come-from-behind win.
With the win, Samford improves to 4-14 overall and 2-5 in Southern Conference play. Furman falls to 10-7 overall and 4-2 in league play. The win ends a seven-game losing streak for Samford.
As a team, Samford made 46.7 percent of its shots overall and 50.0 percent from three-point range. Furman shot 37.0 percent overall and just 12.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Paladins out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 39-26.