Chattanooga 58, North Carolina A&T 43
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - For the third straight game and fourth of the last five, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team held its opponent to less than 50 points and claimed the Christmas Classic title with a 58-43 win over North Carolina A&T in the tournament finale.
The Mocs, with their fifth straight win, are now 9-3 on the year and will head to San Antonio for the UTSA Holiday Classic later this week. The Aggies close the tournament at 1-1 and are 7-5 overall.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and 12 rebounds and added five blocked shots. Senior Ka’Vonne Towns had a team-high 14 points in the win and added a pair of steals.
After getting behind 6-0 to start the game, the Mocs then scored 13 unanswered points bookended by a pair of 3-pointers from Towns. Chattanooga would go on to outscore NC A&T 19-11 and carry a 32-17 lead into halftime.
The second half saw the Mocs gain their largest lead, 44-21 with 14:37 to play, on a fastbreak layup from Joyner. Chattanooga’s last field goal for the day, however, would come on a 3-pointer from redshirt freshman Ansley Chilton with 6:16 to play. Junior Alicia Payne scored three of her four free throws in that span.
The teams played even in the second half with each scoring 26 points and were nearly matched up in the paint with the Aggies gaining a slight 28-26 advantage. Both team scored 17 points off turnovers with the Mocs fumbling the ball 16 times to the Aggies 15.
The Mocs shot better than 50 percent for the third time this season making 20-of-38 (52.6%) from the field. UTC was 6-of-16 for the game from beyond the arc, making 5-of-10 in the first half. Chattanooga won the rebounding battle for the first time in five games, outdueling NC A&T 31-28 on the boards.
The Aggies were held to 34.6 percent from the floor (18-of-52) marking the third straight UTC opponent to be held to under 35 percent from the field.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert was 4-of-4 from the free throw line and had nine points for the Mocs along with three assists while Payne chipped in eight points. Freshman Keiana Gilbert added seven points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals on the day.
The Mocs will take a few days off for the holiday before departing for San Antonio later this week for the UTSA Holiday Classic. The Mocs will face SIU Edwardsville on Sunday and South Dakota Monday. Both games will tip at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Samford 56, Alabama State 43
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford women’s basketball team remained unbeaten at home, earning a 56-43 win over Alabama State Sunday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.
Freshman forward Destiney Elliott posted her first career double-double to lead the Bulldogs in the win. Elliott scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. She made 5-of-8 shots from the floor and 7-of-10 from the free-throw line.
Behind Elliott, sophomore guard Hannah Nichols scored 14 points. Junior guard Krista Stricklin added eight points and seven rebounds.
For Alabama State, Kayla Tucker scored 11 points to lead the way. Jasmine Peeples scored eight points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Britney Wright also had eight points for the Lady Hornets.
Samford started the game fast, racing out to an 8-0 lead with 17:41 to go in the first half following a layup by Stricklin. Samford pushed its lead out to 10 points at 16-6 with 12:17 left in the first half after a layup by Ellen Riggins.
Alabama State came back with a 7-1 run to cut the Samford lead to four points at 17-13 with 7:59 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Tucker. Samford then went on a 12-4 run to take a 12-point lead at 29-17 with 1:43 left in the half after a pair of free throws by Nichols. Samford took a 31-20 lead into halftime.
Samford pushed its lead out to 14 points early in the second half at 36-22 with 16:48 left after a jumper by Nichols. With Samford holding a 40-27 lead, Alabama State went on a 7-1 run to cut the lead to 41-34 with 7:54 to go following a layup by Peeples.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead back out to 13 points at 47-34 with 5:26 to go after a pair of free throws by Elliott. Alabama State could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 56-43 win.
As a team, Samford shot 36.0 percent overall, compared to 26.9 percent for Alabama State. Samford won the rebounding battle, 40-38.
With the win, Samford improves to 6-6 overall. Alabama State falls to 4-6 with the loss.
Samford will return to action on Dec. 29 when the Bulldogs play at Kansas. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start from Allen Fieldhouse.
College of Charleston 72, Mercer 59
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Precious Bridges scored 33 points and Teanna Robinson notched her second consecutive double-double as the Mercer women’s basketball team dropped a 72-59 decision to The College of Charleston on Sunday afternoon.
Robinson tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds, Briana Williams added eight points and six rebounds and Bridges pulled down five rebounds.
The College of Charleston (1-8) opened the second stanza with a commanding 15-4 run that lasted 4:23 and extended its lead to 49-34. The Bears (6-6) used a 14-7 run of their own to cut the Cougars’ lead to 56-48 with 9:49 left in the game.
Mercer continued to chip away, moving the score to 58-54 with 6:29 to play. The College then used an 8-1 spurt to increase its lead to 66-55 with 3:20 on the clock.
Bridges hit a jumper at 3:13, right out of the final media timeout, but the Cougars answered, keeping the Bears from sparking momentum for the final minutes.
Mercer shot 40.7 percent from the field, while The College of Charleston hit 51.9 percent of its shots. While the Bears committed more turnovers than the Cougars, 16-11, they also scored more points off of turnovers, 19-12.
The Bears started off strong, surging to a 12-2 lead just 4:10 into the game. The Cougars answered with an 18-6 run that lasted 7:25 and gave The College its first lead of the game, 20-18, with 8:15 left in the half.
Briana Williams and Bridges hit back-to-back jumpers to give Mercer the lead back, 22-20, before the Cougars went on a 10-0 spurt lasting just 1:24 and giving them their largest lead of the half, 30-22.
A 3:15 scoring drought by both teams was ended when Bridges sank a triple with 1:47 on the clock. Bridges scored eight points in the final minutes, as the Bears cut the Cougars’ lead to 34-30 before halftime.
Mercer shot 48.1 percent in the first half, while The College connected on 51.9 percent of its shots. The Bears outrebounded the Cougars, 15-12, in the first period. Bridges scored 20 points for Mercer in the first half, the first time this season she has hit 20 points in the first period.
The Bears will have a seven-day break before returning to the court on Dec. 29 against Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala. The game is set to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
North Florida 62, Western Carolina 45
JACKSONSVILLE, Fla. - Western Carolina women's basketball (7-5) dropped the final game of the Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic 62-45 to host North Florida (7-5) Sunday in the UNF Arena.
Junior guard Lindsay Simpson led the Catamounts with 15 points in the game hitting all five of Western Carolina's three pointers in the game. The Franklin, N.C. native's five three-pointers tied her career-high for three pointers in a game and is also the third straight game she has scored in double figures.
Senior guard Justin Taylor kept her consecutive double figure scoring streak alive with 12 points. She has now scored in double figures in all 12 games to start the season. She was named to the UNF All-Tournament Team averaging 17.5 points per game in the tournament shooting 42.3 percent from the field and going 10-of-12 from the free throw line.
North Florida benefited from crashing the board, out-rebounding Western Carolina 59-30 in the game. The rebound advantage equated to 17 second-chance points in the game.
Western Carolina trailed from the opening tip after the Ospreys scored the opening basket of the game. Taylor tied the game for WCU with a lay-up but UNF came back with a bucket by Amber Robinson to take the lead back.
The Catamounts tied the game for a second time in the game off a pair of free throws by freshman forward Emily Hatfield, at 17, with 8:136 left in the first half. North Florida re-took the lead off a free throw by Robinson, 18-17, and Western Carolina would not get any closer the remainder of the game.
The Catamounts did battle back only trailing by five, 26-21, at the half.
An 8-to-4 run by UNF to start the second half gave the Osprey a 34-25 advantage to start the second half. Later in the game back-to-back three pointers by Simpson cut the UNF lead to 43-35.
After Simpson's back-to-back three pointers, with 10:57 left in the game, Western Carolina scored just 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Western Carolina shot a season-low 25 percent from the field hitting just 15 field goals in the game. North Florida shot 38.3 percent. WCU did make the most of its trips to the free throw line hitting 10-of-13.
Paulina Zacveckaite led UNF with a double-double of 17 points and a school record 23 rebounds.
Western Carolina will take nine days off from playing before returning to action Dec. 31 at Wake Forest. Tip time is set for 3:30 p.m.
FIU 83, Wofford 75
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Junior guard Ashton Fleming exploded on the offensive end in the second half, but her career day was overshadowed by a 83-75 Terrier loss to Florida International on Sunday afternoon.
Fleming scored 18 in the second half alone, playing efficient and smart on the offensive end of the floor. The Kernsville, N.C., native scored a team-best 22 points in the loss to the Golden Panthers – the best scoring performance of her career.
Fleming went 9-of-12 from the floor, nailing both of her attempts from long range. The junior did her part everywhere on the court, whether driving through traffic for a layup or nailing a shot from the top of the key.
The 75 points for Wofford (3-9) was the most the team scored against a Division I opponent all season. Four Terriers ended the game in double-figure scoring. Along with Fleming’s 22, classmates Jordan Frazier (6-17 FG, 8-10 FT) and Chanel Stokes (6-14 FG, 2-2 FT) had 20 and 15 points, respectively. Sophomore guard Kentra Washington scored 14 points, going 4-of-12 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 on free throws.
Florida International (2-7) was led by Kiandre’a Pound. Pound had an eventful second half as well, scoring 19 of her 23 points in the final 20 minutes. She went 9-of-18 from the floor while scoring five more points on eight free throw attempts. Pound also grabbed 10 boards for a double-double. Golden Panther Marita Davydova also recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 12 off the glass.
The game opened with both sides keeping the game close. Frazier spearheaded the Terrier offense in the first 20 minutes with 11 points, while Trynia McKinzie scored eight for the Golden Panthers by working the ball down low and getting to the foul line. The Terriers never led, but kept the game within a few points for the majority of the first half.
The turning point followed a pair of free throws from Frazier that brought the game within two points, Wofford trailing 23-21 with 3:03 left in the half. Over the course of roughly a minute, Nikolina Todorvic, Davydova and Destini Feagin displayed their sharpshooting, knocking down shots from outside the arc to blow open an 11 point lead. Florida International went into the locker rooms up nine, 36-27.
The Golden Panthers led by as many as 14 in the contest. Despite Fleming’s second half outburst and key contributions from other Terriers, winning the second half, 41-40, was not enough to overcome the first half deficit.
The Terriers will break for the holiday, returning to the court on January 2. The women’s team will ring in the New Year in the Benjamin Johnson Arena, where they will take on the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.