Chattanooga 60, Belmont 48
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team scored a 60-48 win over Belmont Thursday night at the Curb Event Center. The win moves the Mocs to 5-3 overall and drops the Bruins to 2-6 on the year.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner had a game-high 13 points with seven rebounds, six blocked shots and four steals. She was joined in double figures by senior Destiny Bramblett who scored nine of her 12 points in the second half.
The Bruins scored first, but senior Ka’Vonne Towns connected on the first of her three 3-pointers to give the Mocs a 6-4 lead 4:23 into the game and Chattanooga would never trail again. UTC outscored Belmont 22-8 over the next 9:43 to take a 28-12 lead, its largest of the half.
Belmont cut into the advantage to make it a 10-point game at the break, 30-20.
In the second half, the two teams traded baskets with Belmont pulling to within eight points, 47-39 after forcing a turnover and getting a quick layup from Frankie Joubran with 2:37 to play.
Sophomore Aryanna Gilbert converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, sparking a 10-0 run to give the Mocs its largest lead of the game, 57-39 with 38 seconds to play.
However, the Bruins would not go away. Jordyn Luffman-Hartsfield scored seven straight points in 19 seconds. She drained a 3-pointer at the 30 second mark then drew a foul, connecting on both of her free throws.
The Bruins pressed Chattanooga’s inbound pass and drew a foul from the Mocs and Luffman-Hartsfield scored her seventh point of the game on a short jumper.
The two teams were equal in the paint with each scoring 28 points in the lane. UTC edged the Bruins 19-16 on turnovers. Belmont won the battle on the boards 37-30.
After starting the game shooting better than 50 percent, the Mocs closed out the night making 23-of-51 (45.1%) and was 8-of-18 from beyond the arc, matching its season-best for made 3-pointers while connecting on just 6-of-9 from the free throw line.
Belmont made just 18-of-55 (32.7%) and was 3-of-13 from beyond the 3-point line, making all three in the second half. From the charity stripe, the Bruins were 9-of-12.
Joyner had six blocked shots on the night, raising her career total to 87, just 11 shy of second place on the Mocs all-time list.
Freshman Keiana Gilbert had five points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Towns and Gilbert each added nine points.
Joubran led the Bruins with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds and Luffman-Hartsfield had seven points and six boards.
UNCG 70, South Carolina State 50
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women’s basketball team used an 11-0 run to start the second half to cruise past South Carolina State, 70-50, Thursday night at Fleming Gymnasium.
The Spartans improved to 4-5 on the season and handed South Carolina State its worst loss of the season dropping them to 5-3. All four of UNCG’s victories this season have come when the Spartans score 70 or more points.
Sophomores Shanese Harris and India Timpton set new career highs for points. Harris after setting a new career mark with 17 on Monday against High Point, hit for 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Timpton filled up the stat sheet with a career-high 11 points and four blocks. The Charlotte native also pulled down eight rebounds and had three steals.
Junior guard Lucy Mason tied for the team lead with 18 points on 9-of-18 shooting with three assists. Senior Jarae Savage finished with eight points and nine rebounds in the victory.
The Blue and Gold forced 26 turnovers for South Carolina State who was coming into the contest with just 18 turnovers a game. UNCG had 11 steals that led to 27 points off turnovers and 17 fast-break points. The Spartans also outplayed the Bulldogs in points in the paint by a 36-26 margin.
UNCG was stellar from the free throw line shooting 72 percent on 18-of-25 as South Carolina State shot just 66.7 percent on 10-of-15. In a balanced effort, 10 different UNCG players were credited with points in the win.
In the first half, the Blue and Gold took a 9-4 lead at the first media timeout as Harris scored four of the first nine points. South Carolina State would tie the game at 14-14 after a three-pointer from Jahmia Bradley at the 10:06 mark.
Harris would hit a driving layup to cap off a 7-2 run giving UNCG a 21-16 advantage with just six minutes left in the half. Another mini 8-2 run would give the Spartans a 10-point cushion after back-to-back jumpers from Savage and junior Jazmine Missouri to make it 29-19 with 3:41 remaining until intermission.
Over the next three minutes, South Carolina State would battle back cutting the lead to 33-25 at halftime after outscoring the Spartans 6-4.
UNCG would open the second half on an 11-0 pushing its lead to 44-25 off a jumper from Mason. The Spartans wouldn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
Over a six-minute stretch the Spartans would take a commanding 62-33 lead off an 11-1 run finished by a fast-break layup from Harris. UNCG would hold a 29-point lead, its largest of the night, and South Carolina State couldn’t get the deficit under 20.
With three minutes left, Mallory Stone hit a layup to make the score 67-43 but freshman Keli Foster hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 26 points at 69-43. The Bulldogs would outscore UNCG 7-3 to end the game but the Spartans ended with a 20-point win.
The Blue and Gold travel to Richmond, Va. to take on VCU Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m.