HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The Chattanooga women's basketball squad let a second half 13-point lead slide away, falling to Alabama A&M 67-63 in the Bulldogs home opener Saturday night at Elmore Gymnasium.
Alex Anderson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) led three Chattanooga players in double figures with a game-high 20 points and tallied her second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. She shot 70 percent in the first half for 14 points on 7-of-10 from the floor. Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.), playing in front of a home crowd, hit two 3-pointers, both in the first half for 14 points, a season-high.
Chattanooga led by eight at the half and quickly built the lead to 13, but the Bulldogs would start to chip away and cut the lead to single digits with 15:59 to play. Alabama A&M would get the lead down to four on a 3-point play by Katrick Williams and a free throw from Ashley Pearson just two minutes later to make it 47-43.
Over the next nine minutes to two teams would battle it out with the Lady Mocs unable to get ahead by more than five until Tagan Hatchett (Acworth, Ga.) connected on a jumper in the lane to put the Lady Mocs up 62-55 with 4:57 to play. That would be UTC's final shot of the game and the Bulldogs would outscore UTC 12-1 to close out the game. The Lady Mocs went 0-for-4 over the final five minutes of play and were 1-for-3 from the free throw line.
Shanara Hollinquest was the third Chattanooga player in double digits with 12 points, but she would foul out with 4:38 to play. The Lady Mocs were whistled for eight fouls over that time span while A&M was called just twice.
Katrich Williams led Alabama A&M with 16 points and Felicia Drummond had 13. Ashleonte Williams, whose free throws with 1:55 to play gave Alabama A&M the lead for good, had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Christian Malone, who connected on a pair of 3-pointers, was the fourth Bulldog in double figures.
The Lady Mocs were 26-of-55 from the floor, outshooting the Bulldogs 47.3 percent to 39.1. Chattanooga had a slight advantage on the boards outrebounding A&M 45-43, but the difference was at the line as UTC was 5-for-10 from the charity stripe while the Bulldogs made 16 of their 28 attempts, six in the final two minutes.
Chattanooga will have the next two weeks off for finals. They will return to action on Dec. 15 when they host Alabama at the McKenzie Arena. Transfer LaCondra Mason will make her debut in a Chattanooga uniform. Game time is now set for 1 p.m. and will be carried live by Fox 61.
