No. 21 Chattanooga 68, Wofford 41
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team climbed two more spots in this week’s AP Top 25 poll to 21st and held off Wofford with a 68-41 Southern Conference win at McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs improve to 21-3 on the year with its 17th straight win, Chattanooga’s sixth longest win streak in school history, and remain unbeaten in league play at 9-0. The Terriers fall to 7-17 overall and 2-7 against the conference.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner recorded her fifth double-double of the year with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. She was 6-of-7 from the free throw line and had a career-best four assists to go along with a pair of steals and four blocked shots. She has a school-record 97 blocked shots and moves to third on the SoCon single season list.
Senior Ka’Vonne Towns went 3-of-6 from the 3-point line for 11 points with three assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert had 11 points with four rebounds, four assists as well as a blocked shot.
Foster rotated the bench early and often throughout the game with all but one player getting double-digit time on the court. Chattanooga’s bench accounted for 17 points led by sophomore Moses Johnson’s seven points and seven rebounds. Sophomore transfer Sydney Vanlandingham matched her career-high for rebounds with six in 16 minutes and added four points off the bench.
Wofford led just once in the game on a 3-pointer by Jordan Frazier to give the Terriers a 3-2 lead. Joyner hit a jumper 20 seconds later and the Mocs never trailed again. Chattanooga outscored Wofford 30-7 over the rest of the period and carried a 32-13 lead into halftime.
The second half saw the Mocs’ largest lead of the game at 52-28 on a 3-pointer from Towns with 8:22 to play. The two teams traded points through the remainder of the game for a final 27-point margin at 68-41.
In the paint, Chattanooga held a large advantage outscoring Wofford 34-16 and had 16 points off 14 offensive boards compared the Terriers eight oints off 11 offensive rebounds. Each team forced 13 turnovers but UTC capitalized on the miscues with 13 points compared to Wofford’s five.
Chanel Stokes led the Terriers with 13 points while Jordan Frazier, ranked third in the league for scoring, was held to just five points on the night. Maria Corella sank a pair of 3-pointers and had eight points while three players had a team-high four rebounds each.
The win is the 43rd consecutive SoCon regular season win for the Mocs, a school-record, and its 10th straight win at home, seventh best streak for UTC. Chattanooga has won 50 of its last 51 games at home after falling earlier this season to No. 25 South Florida.
In just his second season at the helm, Chattanooga Head Coach Jim Foster secured his 50th win and now has 833 over his career.
The Mocs remain at home to host UNCG Saturday at 3 p.m. in the opening game of a doubleheader with the men who will host Samford at 6 p.m.
ETSU 72, Furman 61
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Led by four double-digit scorers, including a game-high-tying 19 points from freshman point guard Tianna Tarter, the ETSU women’s basketball team powered past the Furman Paladins, 72-61, on Monday evening inside Brooks Gym.
With the win, ETSU sweeps the season series and improves to 16-8 overall and 8-1 in Southern Conference action, while Furman drops to 15-10 overall and 4-5 in SoCon play.
Looking to defeat Furman for the second time in the past month, the Bucs got off to a hot start; taking a 10-2 lead on a Chandler Christopher three-pointer with 15:45 to go in the opening period. Over the next minute and a half, though, the Paladins answered with an 8-0 burst to even things up. In a fast-paced contest, the Blue & Gold responded with a run of its own over the next four minutes; a 12-2 surge to take a first-half-high 10-point advantage with 10:11 to go. Fittingly, in a streaky first half, the Paladins manufactured a 17-6 rally to take a 29-28 lead with 3:09 remaining. ETSU collected itself over the duration of the period and answered back to take a 32-31 advantage into halftime.
The second half was back and forth to begin, but then Tarter began to take over. A lay-up by the rookie with 15:18 remaining put the Bucs up 40-35 as she was the catalyst for a second-period ETSU flurry. Comeback attempts from Furman were continually met with an answer from ETSU as the home team tried to separate. Holding a 54-49 lead with 6:52 left, the Blue & Gold put together a 7-0 burst over the next minute to pull ahead by a game-high 12 points. FU did not go away lightly, though, as a Whitney Bunn triple with 3:58 to go cut ETSU’s lead to five. Subsequently, a clutch three-point answer from Tarter helped thwart the Paladins’ rally. Down the stretch, the Bucs stayed in control as they dealt the visitors a 72-61 decision.
Joining Tarter in double-figures was sophomore guard Shamauria Bridges with 13, and senior forwards Maria Bond and Serena Clark with 12 and 10, respectively. The freshman also grabbed eight rebounds and dished-out four assists, while Bond came off of the bench to corral six boards. For Furman, guard/forward Holli Wilkins scored 19 points and was joined as a double-digit scorer by guard Kelsey Ellis with 13.
ETSU shot the ball from the floor at 43 percent for the game and really locked down FU in the second half; holding the Paladins to 36 percent shooting in the period. The Bucs also dominated in the paint, 38-24, and converted 13 Furman turnovers into 20 points. In addition, the Blue & Gold held a 46-38 advantage on the glass and turned 17 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points.
Meanwhile, the visitors from Greenville, South Carolina knocked down 24-of-63 shots from the field for the game (38 percent) including six made three-pointers. The Paladins were also efficient in their limited attempts from the free-throw line, 7-of-8, and got 15 points from their bench. Additionally, FU assisted on 13 of its made field goals.
The Bucs will continue SoCon play in Johnson City when it welcomes Western Carolina to Freedom Hall for the first game of a women’s and men’s basketball double-header on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 1 p.m.
Samford 88, UNCG 66
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women’s basketball scored a season-high 88 points in earning an 88-66 Southern Conference win over UNCG Monday night in the Pete Hanna Center.
The game was Samford’s Play4Kay game, raising money and awareness for breast cancer research.
Samford was led by Hanna Nichols with 22 points, tying her career high. Krista Stricklin scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. Destiney Elliott scored 15 points, while Lydia McGee added 13 points and six rebounds.
UNCG was led by Lucy Mason with 25 points. Jade Scaife added 12 points for the Spartans.
UNCG jumped out to an early lead, taking a 7-4 advantage with 17:12 to go in the first half following a three-pointer by Keli Foster. Samford scored the next five points to take a 9-7 lead with 14:44 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Nichols. After UNCG came back to take an 11-9 lead, Samford went on a 12-2 run to take a 21-13 lead with 10:04 left in the half after a layup by Elliott.
The Spartans came back to cut the lead to four points at 21-17 with 8:22 left in the first half after a layup by Scaife. Samford then took control of the game with a 16-4 run to push its lead to 37-21 with 4:02 to go in the half following a three-point play by Elliott. Samford eventually pushed its lead out to 20 points at 45-25, and the Bulldogs took a 47-27 advantage into halftime.
Early in the second half, Samford increased its lead to 23 points at 53-30 with 18:16 to go following a pair of free throws by Taylor Reece. UNCG then went on a 10-0 run to cut the Samford lead to 13 points at 53-40 with 15:37 to go after a jumper by Mason. Samford answered with a 10-0 run of its own to make the score 63-40 with 13:11 to go after a jumper by Nichols.
With Samford leading, 63-43, the Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run to take a 29-point lead at 74-45 with 10:07 to go after a three-pointer by Stricklin. The Bulldogs eventually pushed their lead out to 30 points at 81-51 with 6:27 left after a pair of free throws by Brittany Stevens. UNCG could get no closer than 22 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 88-66 win.
As a team, Samford made 58.0 percent of its shots from the floor, including 44.4 percent from three-point range. UNCG shot 41.4 percent overall and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc. The teams finished the game with 31 rebounds each. Samford dished out 21 assists on 29 made field goals in the contest.
Samford improves to 13-11 overall and 6-3 in Southern Conference play with the win. UNCG drops to 5-19 overall and 0-9 in SoCon games.
Samford will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 14, when the Bulldogs play at Wofford. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. (CT) start from Spartanburg, S.C.
Mercer 82, Western Carolina 60
MACON, Ga. – Briana Williams scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Mercer women’s basketball team to an 82-60 win over Western Carolina on Monday night at Hawkins Arena.
Alex Williams pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds and added 16 points to record the second double-double of her career. She also had three assists and a steal, while Briana Williams added five assists, two blocks and two steals.
Precious Bridges tallied 12 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals, and Alicia Williams notched 11 points, two rebounds and a block. Teanna Robinson recorded eight points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal, and Kahlia Lawrence contributed six points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Madi Mitchell and Kayla Potts each added two points and an assist, and Mitchell also grabbed four boards, while Potts snagged a steal.
The Bears (14-11, 6-3 SoCon) opened the game with an 11-0 run and never looked back. Mercer kept Western Carolina (9-15, 1-8 SoCon) from scoring until the 12:47 mark, when Lindsay Simpson hit her first of three consecutive treys.
Briana Williams was also hot from behind the arc in the first half, connecting on 5-of-7 attempts to tie her career high of five made three-pointers. Williams netted 18 points in the first half alone.
Mercer led by double-figures for most of the half, with its largest lead of 16 points occurring twice, last at 29-13 with 7:58 remaining in the period.
The Bears connected on 42.9 percent of their shots, including 54.5 percent from beyond the three-point line. The Catamounts recorde3d a 36.4 field goal percentage for the period, but hit 80 percent of their three-point attempts.
Mercer continued to control the game in the second stanza; never letting Western Carolina cut the lead to single-digits. After trading baskets for the first few minutes, the Catamounts came within 10, 46-36, with 15:42 left in the game, but the Bears answered with a 10-2 run that stretched their advantage to 56-38.
The back-and-forth ensued for most of the remainder of the game, but Alex Williams gave Mercer it’s largest lead, 80-55, with 1:14 remaining after hitting three free throws in just 20 seconds. Western Carolina outscored Mercer 5-2 in the final 66 seconds to move the final score to 82-60.
Overall, Mercer tallied a 43.8 field goal percentage and hit 80 percent of its free throw shots. Western Carolina was held to 35.6 percent from the field, but tallied a 53.8 shooting percentage from behind the three-point line. Mercer outrebounded Western Carolina, 42-36, and won the turnover battle, 4-13.
Next up, Mercer will hit the road to face Furman on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. in Greenville, S.C.