No. 18 Chattanooga 64, ETSU 42
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team posted its second straight unbeaten Southern Conference season with a 64-42 win over ETSU Saturday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena in the season finale for both teams.
The Mocs improve to 26-3 on the year and 14-0 in league play, running its SoCon regular season win streak to 48 games. The win was the Mocs’ 22nd consecutive victory this season. The Bucs fall to 19-10 overall and 11-3 against the conference.
Chattanooga started out on a 15-0 run that spanned five-and-a-half minutes and included three 3-pointers from senior Ka’Vonne Towns who was honored in Senior Day festivities following the game.
The Mocs held the Bucs to just five shot attempts in the run and forced seven turnovers. ETSU wouldn’t get its first basket of the game until the 11:45 mark of the first half and cut Chattanooga’s lead to 15-7 over the next 1:13.
Chattanooga went on to outscore ETSU 16-6 to close out the frame and led 31-13 at halftime. The Mocs were 50 percent from the field in the first half and 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc.
The Bucs got the first shot of the second half, but Chattanooga put together a 10-4 run, pushing the lead to 41-19 with 13:42 to play. From there the two teams traded baskets for the final 64-42.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner made the most of the Mocs last home game of the season with her sixth double-double of the year scoring 14 points on 7-of-9 from the field and snaring 14 rebounds. Joyner also broke a 26-year-old Southern Conference record for blocked shots in a season with 118, surpassing Marshall’s Sharon Deal who had 117 in 1989. Joyner, fifth in the nation, is 10th on the SoCon all-time list and second at UTC.
Towns had 14 points and four rebounds, shooting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and fellow senior Destiny Bramblett had three points, two rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes.
Junior Alicia Payne set career marks with 11 assists and seven steals while committing just two turnovers. The 11 assists is the most by a player in a game since Laura Hall had 11 against Louisville in 2007.
The Mocs held the advantage in the paint 28-22 and outrebounded the Bucs 33-19, allowing just three offensive boards to ETSU while pulling down eight. Chattanooga had 11 second chance points to the Bucs’ five and forced 19 miscues for a 21-4 advantage on points of turnovers.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert added nine points for UTC while freshman Keiana Gilbert and redshirt freshman Ansley Chilton added six points each.
ETSU had three players in double figures led by Destiny Mitchell’s 13 and four rebounds. Shamauria Bridges added 12 points and a pair of assists while Maria Bond came off the bench for 11 points and two rebounds in 26 minutes.
The Mocs honored seniors Towns and Bramblett along with Kayla Freeman and manager Taylor Rood after the game. Chattanooga also received its Southern Conference regular season trophy after the game. It is the Mocs’ 19th regular season title since 1984 and third straight.
Chattanooga earned the No. 1 seed and will take on No. 8 seed UNCG at Noon on Thursday, March 5 at Kimmel Arena on the UNC Asheville campus in the opening game of the Southern Conference Tournament.
Mercer 70, Samford 65
MACON, Ga. – Alicia Williams scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Mercer women’s basketball team to a 70-65 comeback win over Samford on Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena.
The Bears (17-13, 9-5 SoCon) clinched the No. 3 seed for the Southern Conference tournament and also secured a victory for senior day.
Precious Bridges added 21 points, a season-high tying eight assists, two steals and a rebound, while Kahlia Lawrence notched her third career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, along with two steals. Alicia Williams also had six rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist.
Teanna Robinson tallied six rebounds, three points, two blocks and two assists, while Alex Williams contributed a career-high three blocks, four rebounds and three points.
The Bulldogs (15-14, 8-6 SoCon) started the second stanza with a trey, which was followed by a three minute scoring drought for both teams. Bridges hit a jumper with 16:41 remaining in the game to spark the offense once again.
The teams traded baskets for a few minutes before the Bears embarked on an 11-0 run lasting 4:14 to cut the lead to 46-42. Samford slowed Mercer’s momentum with a pair of three pointers, but the Bears continued to score from inside the perimeter and came within two, 52-50, with 6:31 to play.
After a jumper from Samford’s Taylor Reece, a back-and-forth ensued for the following 3:43 until Bridges scored seven consecutive points to give Mercer its first lead of the game, 66-65, with 1:22 to play.
A pair of free throws from Alicia Williams moved the score to 68-65 with 29 ticks left on the clock. Bridges added another two points for insurance and the Bulldogs were unable to score in the final seconds as Mercer picked up the 70-65 victory.
Overall, Mercer tallied a 42.4 field goal percentage and connected on 73.9 percent of its free throw attempts. Samford recorded a 44.4 percentage from the field and outrebounded the Bears, 35-32.
Samford opened the game hot, surging to a 14-2 lead in just 5:55, but Mercer answered with a 10-0 run that lasted 3:04 and cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 14-12. The game of runs continued as Samford outscored Mercer 16-2 over the next 6:37 to stretch its advantage to 30-14.
The Bears closed out the final three minutes of the half with a 9-6 spurt to cut the score to 36-23 before entering the locker room.
In the first half, Mercer shot 31.0 percent from the field, while Samford connected on 54.2 percent of its shots, which included 53.8 percent from behind the three-point line. Samford also outrebounded Mercer, 20-13, but the Bears won the turnover battle, 3-7.
Next up, the Bears will head to the SoCon Tournament in Asheville, N.C. The third-seeded Bears will face the No. 6 seed Wofford on Thursday, March 5. Tipoff is set for 6:45 p.m. at Kimmel Arena.
Furman 70, Wofford 53
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Brittany Hodges scored 19 points and tallied 10 rebounds to notch her 33rd career double-double to power Furman past Wofford, 70-53, in Southern Conference women’s basketball regular season finale action Saturday afternoon at Ben Johnson Arena.
The win gave Furman (18-12, 7-7 SoCon) the regular season sweep of Wofford (8-21, 3-11 SoCon) and marked the Paladins’ ninth triumph in the last 10 meetings with the Terriers.
Furman will take the No. 5 seed into SoCon Tournament play and face No. 4 seed Samford next Thursday at 2:15 p.m. in Asheville, N.C., at UNCA’s Kimmel Arena. The winner of the Furman-Samford contest will face the winner of the No. 1 Chattanooga vs. No. 8 UNCG clash on Friday at 11:00 p.m. at Asheville’s U.S. Cellular Center.
Furman split with Samford during the regular season, dropping a 76-65 decision in Birmingham on Jan. 17 before registering a 64-44 win over the Bulldogs in Greenville on Feb. 16.
Trailing 20-13 midway through the first half, Furman closed the first period by outscoring Wofford 25-4 to take a 38-24 lead into intermission.
The Terriers cut the Paladins’ lead to 11 points at 40-29 three minutes into the second half, but Furman answered with an 8-0 run, keyed by a pair of Allison Beasley 3-pointers, to take control with 12:08 remaining.
After a Wofford free throw halted the Furman spurt, Whitney Bunn drained another Paladin 3-pointer to stretch the advantage to 51-30 and effectively seal the outcome.
The SoCon’s top 3-point shooting team entering the contest, Furman bounced back from poor perimeter shooting performances in its two previous outings by connecting on 8-of-19 attempts from beyond the arc (42.1%), led by Beasley ‘s 4-for-7 effort. The sophomore wing finished with 14 points.
For the game Furman made 27-of-59 shots (45.8%) from the field.
Whitney Bunn also contributed 14 points for the Paladins, including a pair of 3-pointers, and with four assists upped her Furman season record assist total to 216 — the third highest tally in SoCon history.
The Paladins dominated the boards, posting a 41-27 advantage on the glass, with senior Sarah Durdaller joining Hodges with 10 rebounds.
Jordan Frazier scored 16 points to lead Wofford, which made just 7-of-24 shots (29.2%) in the first half.