BOX SCORE
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior forward Alex Anderson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) tallied her third consecutive double-double and senior guard Brooke Hand (Moulton, Ala.) drained four 3-pointers to lead the Lady Mocs (18-3, 10-0) in a key Southern Conference win over Georgia Southern (11-9, 7-2) Monday night at the McKenzie Arena.
Hand, who was 0-for-2 from beyond the arc in the first half, opened play in the second with a long range bomb to push the Lady Mocs' lead to 27-19. The Eagles cut the lead to four on back-to-back layups, but that would be as close as they would get as Chattanooga responded with a 7-2 run, pushing the lead to 36-27.
Georgia Southern got as close as six points before the Lady Mocs put the game out of reach on an 18-7 run fueled by six points each from Anderson and sophomore Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.). That put the game seemingly out of reach with just 3:10 remaining. Chattanooga withstood a late rally by the Eagles before closing out for its 13th consecutive win, the second longest active winning streak in the nation behind Connecticut's 19.
In the first half Chattanooga battled out to an 8-6 lead with only 4:27 gone by before a 6-0 run gave the Lady Eagles a 12-8 advantage with 13:28 to play. At that point, the Lady Mocs offense came to life and the defense clamped down as Chattanooga put together a 15-5 run, the first eight points unanswered, to take a 23-17 lead with 4:04 to play in the half. The Lady Mocs would allow only two points the rest of the way as they took a 24-19 lead into the break.
UTC would extend its lead to 29-21 at the start of the second half before back-to-back layups by the Lady Eagles narrowed the margin to 29-25 with 16:21 to play. That would be as close as they would get, however, as Chattanooga quickly responded with a 7-2 run to push its lead to 36-27. GSU would narrow the gap to six points before the Lady Mocs pushed the lead back up to eight points at 44-36, setting the stage for their 18-7 run.
Sophomore forward J'Lisia Ogburn led the way for the Lady Eagles as she collected a double-double with team-highs of 12 points and 10 rebounds while senior guard Shawanda Atwood and junior guard Ashley Melson contributed solid all-around games with seven points, five rebounds and six points and four rebounds, respectively, as well as three assists each.
As a team, Georgia Southern dominated the points in the paint, 32-12, but missed all 12 of their three-point attempts.
In addition to her 14 points and 14 rebounds, Anderson added a season-high six blocks and three assists for the Lady Mocs while Hand's 15 points led all scorers. Wade-Fray rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points while sophomore forward Shanara Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) added eight points and five rebounds. Junior forward Erin Ogan (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished the evening with seven points and four rebounds.
The Lady Mocs return to action this Saturday, February 2 when they host Appalachian State at The McKenzie Arena in the first game of a double-header at 5:00 p.m. Georgia Southern
NOTES
? 13th consecutive win is tied for fourth best in school history. Longest win streak is 27 games (2003-04); 26 games (2005-06); 15 games (1999-2000); 13 games (2004-05).
? Second longest active winning streak in country. UConn has 19 consecutive wins (19-0)
? Seventh double-double for Anderson, third straight.
? Anderson missed her own school record for blocked shots in a single game by one.
? Anderson became just the fourth player in school history to tally 900 career rebounds (907)
? Anderson's six blocks gives her a career mark of 202.
? Hand now has 285 career 3-pointers.
