No. 21 Chattanooga 76, UNCG 52
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The No. 21-ranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team made it 18 straight with a 76-52 win over UNCG Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action. Chattanooga improves to 22-3 on the year and 10-0 in conference play while the Spartans drop to 5-20 overall and 0-10 against the league.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring for the Mocs who led wire-to-wire for their 18th consecutive win and 44th against the conference. Shumpert had a team-high 15 points and dished out four assists.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner was 7-of-8 from the field for 14 points with five rebounds in 16 minutes of play and for just the second time this season, did not have a blocked shot. Off the bench, senior Destiny Bramblett was 5-of-6 from the floor, making her one 3-point attempt, for 13 points.
The Mocs started out with a 7-0 lead but the Spartans’ aggressive play kept it close for most of the half.
Shumpert hit a 3-pointer with 5:57 to play in the opening frame and sparked an 18-2 run by the Mocs who led 38-20 at halftime.
Chattanooga kept up the offensive pressure in the second half and led by as much as 27 points late in the period.
UNCG started the second half with a fast break layup from Shanese Harris who had eight points in the contest. The Mocs, however, outscored the Spartans 13-6 over the next 3:46 to spread its lead to 51-28 with 14:55 to play.
Bramblett helped push the Mocs lead to 63-57 with six of Chattanooga’s points in an 8-2 run giving UTC a 26-point lead with 8:49 to go in the game.
Chattanooga won the battle of the paint 42-32 and were 7-of-21 from beyond the arc while shooting 51.8 percent for the game. Chattanooga forced the Spartans into 19 turnovers and converted that to 23 points while giving up 10 points on 12 miscues of their own. UNCG, averaging a SoCon-best 11.5 steals per game, had just seven on the night while Chattanooga snare 13 with nine different players getting in on the action.
Foster cleared the bench for the second straight game and all 10 players scored. Freshman Keiana Gilbert had seven points and a team-high eight points with five assists. Junior Alicia Payne had six points and five rebounds while dishing out a game-high six assists with just two turnovers and two steals while senior Ka’Vonne Towns had eight points with five rebounds.
UTC outrebounded the Spartans 34-29 and had 13 second chance points on 12 offensive boards. UNCG grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second chance points.
Jade Scaife came off the bench for the Spartans to record a double-double with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. She was the only UNCG player in double figures. Jarae Savage, also off the bench, contributed seven points. The Spartan starters accounted for just seven points and Lucy Mason was held to five points, well below her 14.5 points average.
Chattanooga will hit the road Monday to take on Western Carolina. The Catamounts fell 51-40 to ETSU on Saturday and are now 9-16 on the year and 1-9 in league play. The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m. at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C.
Mercer 88, Furman 82 (OT)
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Kahlia Lawrence notched a career-high 24 points and Precious Bridges tallied 22 as the pair led the Mercer women’s basketball team to an 88-82 overtime win against Furman on Saturday afternoon.
Teanna Robinson added a team-leading 14 rebounds, eight points, three steals and a block; while Briana Williams contributed 15 points, three rebounds and two steals. Alicia Williams recorded 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Bridges also had five assists, two rebounds and two steals, while Lawrence tallied five rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block. Kayla Potts had three points and Alex Williams added two points and a rebound.
Mercer improved to 15-11 overall and 7-3 in Southern Conference play, while Furman moved to 15-11 on the season and 4-6 in the league.
Mercer and Furman went back-and-forth for the first 6:02 of the second stanza, but since the Paladins hit four three-pointers, they outscored the Bears 18-12 to cut the lead to just three, 45-42, with 13:32 left to play.
The Orange and Black answered with six straight points, including four from Lawrence, to put the lead back at nine, 51-42. Four consecutive Furman free throws clipped Mercer’s momentum and moved the score to 51-46 with 10:47 remaining in the game.
After a successful trip to the charity stripe for Briana Williams, Furman used a 9-6 spurt to cut Mercer’s lead to 59-55 with 7:16 to play. A quick 8-0 run for the Bears added some breathing room and resulted in a 67-55 lead with 4:48 remaining.
The game of runs continued, as Furman outscored Mercer, 19-7 in the final 4:42, including a last-second three-pointer that knotted the score, 74-74, and sent the game to overtime.
With six points for each team in the first 1:54 of overtime, neither looked poised to gain momentum. However, a layup from Bridges and two free throws from Lawrence gave the Bears an 84-80 advantage with just 1:16 remaining.
Furman missed a three-pointer and a foul sent Bridges to the line to increase the Bears’ lead to 86-80 with 30.2 seconds to play. A Paladin layup and two more trips to the charity stripe for the Bears gave Mercer an 88-82 advantage as the seconds wound down.
Overall, Mercer recorded a 51.4 field goal percentage, its second-highest of the season. Furman tallied a 48.5 shooting percentage, including 45.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Paladins were just 1-for-7 on three-pointers in the first half, but went 8-for-10 in the second period, accounting for their furious rally.
The Bears took control of the game early, opening with a 16-2 run that saw six different Mercer players score in a 4:52 period. A 7-0 spurt from Furman cut Mercer’s lead to 16-9 with 11:17 remaining in the half.
Another six unanswered points for the Bears stretched Mercer’s lead back to 13, at 22-9. The teams traded baskets for the next 4:23, with the Paladins outscoring the Bears 11-8 to move the score to 30-20 with just 2:45 left in the half.
In the final minute of the period, a pair of Furman layups sandwiched a trey from Potts to give Mercer a 33-24 lead entering the locker room.
The Bears connected on 45.7 percent of their shots in the first half, while the Paladins were held to 34.5 percent from the field, including just 14.3 percent from behind the three-point line. Furman outrebounded Mercer, 28-13; but the Paladins turned the ball over 12 times, while the Bears did not commit a turnover at all in the period.
Next up, Mercer will face Wofford on Monday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. in Spartanburg, S.C.
ETSU 51, Western Carolina 40
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – In a matchup in which each team was held well below their season offensive averages, the ETSU women’s basketball team battled to a 51-40 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday afternoon inside Freedom Hall in the team’s annual Play 4Kay game.
With the win, ETSU sweeps the season series with two wins in a week’s time over WCU and improves to 17-8 overall and 9-1 in Southern Conference action. Meanwhile, Western Carolina drops to 9-16 overall and 1-9 in SoCon play.
To begin, the game’s leading scorer -- sophomore guard Shamauria Bridges -- set the tone with eight points in the first five minutes to give the Bucs a 10-4 advantage. The Catamounts answered, though, with an 11-0 run to move ahead, 15-10, with 11:54 to go in the opening period. ETSU responded to tie the game twice over the next five minutes and took a 21-17 lead on a three-point conversion off of the bench from sophomore guard Adriane Vaughan with 3:07 remaining. This triple was an aid in allowing the Blue & Gold to go into halftime with a 23-19 advantage.
Per usual, the Bucs came out of halftime energized and increased their lead to eight, 31-23, on a senior guard Cara Bowling trifecta with 13:06 left in the contest. Much like the first half, the visiting team responded with an 8-0 surge to deadlock the game at 31 with 11:49 remaining. The two teams battled closely over the next four minutes before WCU’s Ace Easter canned a jumper with 7:43 to go to give the Catamounts a 35-34 advantage. ETSU quickly answered, though, with a 7-0 run over the next minute and a half to take a 41-35 advantage. With their lead reduced to four points, freshman point guard Tianna Tarter drained a huge three-pointer with 2:56 remaining to allow the Blue & Gold to take a firm hold on the contest. A 6-2 ETSU burst to close the game brought the final score to 51-40 in favor of the home team.
Bridges paced all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting including 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc. In addition, senior forward Serena Clark added a near double-double of seven points and nine rebounds while fellow senior forward Destiny Mitchell grabbed a game-best 13 rebounds in only 27 minutes of play. For the Catamounts, senior guard Justin Taylor led the way with nine points while Ace Easter and Erika Joseph each added eight.
Coming into the game averaging a league-leading 71 points per game, the Blue & Gold were held to 35 percent shooting, but countered this struggle by limiting a WCU team that averages 63 points a contest to 22 percent shooting and only allowing two made three-pointers. ETSU also got 12 points both in the paint and from its bench, and assisted on 11 of its 17 made field goals.
Western Carolina was able to turn the Bucs over 14 times, resulting in 15 points, and also totaled 12 points in the paint. In addition, the Catamounts knocked down 12-of-18 from the free-throw line.
The Bucs will hit the road as conference play winds down with a trip to Greensboro, North Carolina to take on the UNCG Spartans on Monday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m.
Samford 68, Wofford 43
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Samford women’s basketball team shot 59.5 percent from the floor on its way to a 68-43 Southern Conference win at Wofford Saturday afternoon at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Samford was led by sophomore guard Hannah Nichols, who tied a career high with 22 points. Sophomore forward Ellen Riggins scored 10 points. Sophomore guards Brittany Stevens and Lydia McGee added nine points each for the Bulldogs. Junior guard Krista Stricklin led Samford in rebounding with six.
Wofford was led by Kelsey Lambdin with nine points. Grayson Pinholster added eight points for the Terriers.
Wofford jumped out to an early lead, taking a 6-0 advantage with 16:07 to go in the first half following a three-pointer by Lambdin. With Wofford leading, 13-9, Samford went on an 11-2 run to take a five-point lead at 20-15 with 9:14 left in the half after a jumper by Nichols. Wofford fought back to tie the game at 22-22 with 7:26 left in the first half after a layup by Ashton Fleming.
Samford then went on a 13-2 run to take a 35-24 lead with 1:36 left in the opening period following a layup by Nichols. Samford held a 37-26 lead with 43 seconds to go before halftime. A three-pointer by Wofford’s Maria Corella with five seconds left in the half made the score 37-29 heading into halftime.
In the second half, Wofford closed to within six points early at 37-31. With Samford holding a 39-33 advantage, the Bulldogs went on a 15-4 run to push their lead out to 17 points at 52-35 with 9:53 to go in the game following a jumper by Riggins.
Samford eventually pushed its lead out to as much as 27 points at 66-39 at the 3:26 mark in the second half. Wofford could no closer than 25 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 68-43 win.
The win is Samford’s third-straight victory. The Bulldogs improve to 14-11 overall and 7-3 in Southern Conference play. Wofford falls to 7-18 overall and 2-8 in league games.
Samford will return to action on Monday, Feb. 16, when the Bulldogs play at Furman. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Greenville, S.C.