Chattanooga 76, Austin Peay 65
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team got off to a sluggish start Monday night, but rallied back to snag a 76-65 win over Austin Peay Monday night at the McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs were just 1-of-10 from the field and 1-of-4 from the free throw line in the first 6:11 of the game, trailing 13-3. However, a 19-5 run over the next 6:31 put Chattanooga out front 22-18 with 5:59 to play in the opening frame. Austin Peay outscored UTC 17-6 over the remainder of the half and led 35-28 at intermission.
The Lady Govs maintained their lead through the start of the second half and led UTC 45-36 with 14:25 left in the game. The tide would turn and the Mocs went on a 22-0 run and led 58-45 with 9:06 to play.
Sophomore Aryanna Gilbert who started the game on the bench, sparked the run with six straight points and scored eight of her game-high 26 in the spate, while her sister, freshman Keiana Gilbert closed it with a jumper.
The pair combined for 39 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and three blocked shots.
Aryanna Gilbert had a career-high for points (26) as well as rebounds with eight. She was 13-of-17 from the field and grabbed six offensive boards. Keiana Gilbert recorded her first double-double scoring 13 points and had career-highs for rebounds with 12, assists with six, four steals and matched her best for blocks with two.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner recorded her second double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds and added in four blocked shots to give her 73 for her career. She is four behind Taylor Hall (2010-14) for third all-time at UTC.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert posted her third straight double-figure game with a season-high 13 points in 21 minutes while junior Alicia Payne (Memphis, Tenn.) was 4-of-6 from the free throw line with five assists and five steals.
Austin Peay led by as much as 10 points in the game and with 14:25 made a pair of free throws from Sydney Gooch to go up 45-36. The Mocs had a pair of turnovers over the next 56 seconds before a defensive rebound by Joyner resulted in a fastbreak layup from Aryanna Gilbert to make it 54-38.
In the next offensive series for Austin Peay, Keiana Gilbert blocked a Jennifer Nwokocha layup and Payne snared the steal, feeding it forward to Aryanna for another fastbreak layup to make it a five point game (45-40) at the 12:56 mark. A block by Joyner and a steal by Shumpert led to Aryanna Gilbert’s sixth point in the run to cut it to three.
Payne connected on one of two free throws to make it a two-point game and Gilbert tied it up 45-45 with 11:55 to play. Shumpert forced a turnover and converted the steal into a fastbreak layup to give Chattanooga the lead for good, 47-45 with 11:26 to play.
The Mocs outscored the Lady Govs 54-32 in the paint and had an 18-4 advantage on fastbreak points. With Aryanna Gilbert leading the way, Chattanooga’s bench produced 34 points compared to APSU’s nine. Chattanooga converted 20 turnovers into 25 points while the Lady Govs had 14 points off 13 Chattanooga mistakes.
Austin Peay had three players in double figures with Kristen Stainback leading the way with 21. Tearra Banks put up 19 points and had seven rebounds while Tiasha Gray had 13 points and a team-best three steals.
The Mocs improve to 3-2 overall while Austin Peay drops to 1-3 on the year. Chattanooga had a season-high for steals with 14, matched its season-best for assists with 20 and had a season-high eight blocked shots for a second straight game.
Chattanooga will host No. 4 Tennessee Wednesday night at the Roundhouse. The contest will tip at 7 p.m.
Samford 81, North Florida 47
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford women’s basketball team shot 60.8 percent overall and 54.5 percent from three-point range on its way to an 81-47 win over North Florida Monday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.
In the win, Samford was led by Hannah Nichols with 17 points and five rebounds. Nichols made 6-of-11 shots overall and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Taylor Reece and Krista Stricklin had 13 points each, and Kassidy Blevins added nine points. Destiney Elliott led the team in assists with six.
As a team, Samford had 31 made shots on 24 assists. The 24 assists ties a school record that had been achieved eight previous times. The Bulldogs also won the rebounding battle, 30-29.
For North Florida, Destinee Smith led the Ospreys with 12 points and four rebounds. Janea Williams scored eight points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds, while Bailey Florin had eight points and four rebounds.
Samford jumped on top quickly; scoring the first seven points of the game to take a 7-0 lead with 16:17 left in the first half following a layup by Reece. North Florida fought back to cut the lead to 10-5 with 14:23 left in the half after a three-pointer by Lindsey Levings. Samford, however, answered with an 8-0 run to take an 18-5 lead with 9:11 left in the half after a free throw by Stricklin.
North Florida then went on a 7-0 run of its own to cut the Samford lead to just six points at 18-12 with 6:22 left in the half after a jumper by Caitlyn Spane. With Samford leading, 26-18, the Bulldogs went on another 8-0 run to push their lead to 34-18 with 2:47 left in the half after a three-pointer by Blevins. Samford took a 17-point lead into halftime at 43-26.
Samford opened the second half with a 9-0 run to make the score 52-26 with 18:06 to go after a three-pointer by Nichols. Samford stretched the lead to 57-30 with 14:24 left following another three-pointer by Nichols. UNF then fought back to cut the lead to 21 at 57-36 with 12:29 left after a jumper by Williams.
Samford pushed its lead out to 32 points at 72-40 with 6:34 left after a free throw by Hailey Pierson. UNF cut the lead to 29 at 76-47, but Samford scored the final five points to come away with the 34-point win, 81-47.
With the win, Samford improves to 2-1 on the young season. North Florida drops to 1-3 with the loss.
Samford will return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 26, when the Bulldogs play host to UT Martin at 12:30 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center.
Western Carolina 67, Campbell 57
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Senior guard Justin Taylor poured in a career-high 27 points to pace Western Carolina women’s basketball to a 67-57 win over Campbell Monday in the Ramsey Center.
The Catamounts even their record to 2-2 when the Lady Camels fall to 2-2.
Taylor scored 14 of her 27 points in the first half and tacked on 13 in the second half. She was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line and knocked down three of Western Carolina’s eight three pointers in the game. It was the second time in as many games Taylor has scored 20 points as she had 20 points in the 51-44 loss to Presbyterian Nov. 22.
Campbell came out scorching hot and led for the first seven plus minutes of the game. At the 13:32 mark, with the Lady Camels up by three, senior Makensey Campbell hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 10. A pair of free throws by Emily Hatfield gave WCU its first lead of the game, 12-10, at 12:24. Campbell would tie it for the second time off a lay-up by Makala Rouse.
The lead would change nine more times in the first half before Western Carolina would secure the lead for good. Trailing 24-23, Taylor hit a jumper with 6:62 remaining and was fouled. She hit the free throw to complete the three-point play and WCU was up by two, 26-24.
Campbell would tie it one more time, 26 all, on a pair of free throws by Kiera Gaines but Taylor answered again to give the lead back to the Catamounts. WCU would never trail again. In fact, Taylor’s jumper, at 5:19 left in the first half, spurred an 11-1 run to have WCU lead 37-27 at half. Freshman Ace Eastern Gave the Catamounts the 10 point lead heading into the locker room when she nailed a jumper at the buzzer.
Campbell played a gritty game in the second half but WCU was able to hold the Lady Camels at bay with the 10-point cushion lead from the first half. Both teams scored 30 points in the second half but Campbell could never cut the WCU lead below six points. Western Carolina built its largest lead of the game, 53-40, when Sherae Bonner hit 1-of-2 free throws with 9:31 left in the game.
Though Western Carolina was out-rebounded by Campbell, 54-41, the Catamounts took advantage of their trips to the charity stripe hitting 21-of-29 from the free throw line. In a perimeter back-and-forth WCU had a season-high eight three pointers and the Lady Camels hit nine. But the glaring stat was in the turnover column as Campbell coughed up the ball 20 times, for which WCU scored 12 points, and the Catamounts only gave up the ball nine.
Taylor was the only player to score in double figures for Western Carolina with her 27 points. Easter, Brianne Mack and Campbell each had seven. Bonner, who currently ranks third in the nation in rebounds per game, pulled down eight boards. Amanda Coffer led Campbell with 19 points.
Western Carolina plays its first road games of the season when it travels to Wilmington, N.C. to participate in the UNCW Thanksgiving Classic. The Catamounts will face EKU at noon Friday and host UNCW at 2 p.m. Saturday.
UNCG 70, Longwood 64
FARMVILLE, Va. – Led by junior guard Lucy Mason who scored a season-high 24 points, the UNCG women’s basketball team earned a tough 70-64 road victory against Longwood Monday night at Willett Hall.
UNCG improves to 2-2 with its second road win of the season. The Spartans improve their all-time record against the Lancers with a 16-11 record. Longwood fell to 0-4 with the loss.
Mason scored 14 points in the second half to help fuel the Spartans victory. She was 7-for-8 from the free throw line to help seal the win. Senior Jarae Savage poured in 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting with a team-best seven rebounds. Sophomore India Timpton set a new career high with nine points and senior guard Jessica Collins had eight points.
The Blue and Gold shot a solid 41.1 percent from the field on 23-of-56 from the field. UNCG finished 21-for-27 from the free throw line only missing six in the win.
UNCG won the battle of the boards pulling down 34 rebounds to Longwood’s 33. The Spartans were active on the defensive end forcing 26 turnovers for Longwood and swiped 13 steals. The Blue and Gold scored 24 points off turnovers and in both wins this season have scored 70 total points.
In the first half, the Spartans jumped out to an 8-2 lead off two free throws from Collins. The Lancers answered with a 7-0 run capped by a jumper from Raven Williams with 14 minutes left in the half. UNCG would go up seven off a 10-2 run off a layup from sophomore Shanese Harris to lead 18-11 with under 10 minutes left.
The Blue and Gold held a 27-21 lead with under four minutes to go when Longwood would go on a 7-1 run thanks to layup and foul shot from Kyndal Skersick to tie the game at 28-28. Mason hit a go-ahead jumper with eight seconds left on the clock to give UNCG a 32-30 lead at the half.
Mason led all scorers with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting at the end the half. Timpton set her career-high with nine first-half points on 3-of-3 from the field.
In the second stanza, Longwood used an 18-11 run to push ahead 48-41 off a three-pointer from Raven Williams with 14 minutes left in the game. A key moment came a minute later when Skersick missed an open three that led to 7-2 Spartans run to cut the lead to 50-48 on a made three-pointer from Collins.
In a game that had the lead change hands 11 times, UNCG would battle through by hitting key free throws down the stretch. With under nine minutes left, Mason and Harris made back-to-back layups to give the visitors a 56-52 lead.
Longwood would answer with a 5-0 run on a layup by Khalilah Ali to give the Lancers a 57-56 lead. The Spartans would re-take the lead for good with a 6-0 spurt off a layup from Mason to give UNCG a 62-57 lead with five minutes left.
UNCG would hit 6-of-8 free throws the rest of the game to salt away the victory.
The Blue and Gold will participate in the Navy Classic Nov. 28-29 starting with the host Navy Nov. 28 at 3:30 p.m. in Annapolis, Md. and end the tournament against Northern Kentucky Nov. 29 at 6 p.m.
Indiana State 76, ETSU 69
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Sophomore guard Shamauria Bridges scored a career-high 23 points on Monday evening in a 76-69 loss to Indiana State inside the Hulman Center.
With the loss, ETSU drops to 3-2 on the young season while Indiana State improves to 3-1.
In their second road contest in four days, the Bucs quickly fell behind -- 6-0 -- against the home Sycamores. Hot-shooting Bridges then quickly got going with a triple to put the Blue & Gold on the scoreboard. This three-pointer was the catalyst for a 9-4 run by ETSU to pull within a point of the Sycamores, 10-9, with 13:48 left to play in the first half. Over the next four minutes, the two teams battled neck and neck before Bridges gave the Blue & Gold its first lead of the game, 17-16, with another triple. This lead was short lived as ISU answered back with an 8-0 run to take back the advantage with eight minutes to go before the break. ETSU responded to trail by only two with 5:42 remaining, but the Sycamores responded to take control over the duration of the half and took a 36-30 lead into the break.
Armed with an advantage, ISU surged out of halftime with a 7-3 streak to pull ahead by 10 with 15 minutes left to play. The propensity to turn the ball over that plagued the Bucs in the first half carried over to the second as they continued to shoot themselves in the foot when trying to mount a comeback. After Indiana State took its largest lead of the game -- 59-46 -- with 10 minutes to play, the Blue & Gold got back into the game with an 11-4 run to trail by six, 63-57, with 6 minutes left. Down the stretch, some late turnovers and conversions on the other end by the Sycamores, as well as clutch free throws, allowed ISU to hold on for a 76-69 victory.
On Bridges’ career night, the sophomore also knocked down a career-high tying five three pointers and was 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Joining Bridges in double-figures was Maria Bond with 16 on 6-of-10 shooting. For Indiana State, Racheal Mahan scored a game-best 25 points and was joined in double-digits by Jasmine Grier with 12.
The story of the game for ETSU was turnovers. The Blue & Gold turned the ball over a season-high 26 times which allowed ISU to turn these miscues into 34 points. On the night, the Bucs shot it relatively well altogether with 46 percent from the field and from behind the arc, as well as 75 percent (21-of-28) from the free throw line. ETSU also got 22 points from its reinforcements and scored 26 points in the paint.
In addition to the Sycamores’ opportunities off of turnovers, ISU had a presence in the paint with 48 points. The home team also turned 21 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points and shot a fairly-efficient 45 percent from the field. Indiana State also got 25 points from its bench and assisted on 17 of its 29 made field goals.
The Bucs will continue the road swing with a trip to Bloomington, Ind. to take on Indiana on Wednesday, Nov. 26, at 2 p.m.