BOX SCORE ? PLAY-BY-PLAY
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Chattanooga women's basketball team overcame a 14-point second half deficit to defeat East Tennessee State 77-71 in the Lady Mocs season opener Monday night at the McKenzie Arena.
After trailing 41-30 at the half, the Lady Mocs, 1-0, fell further behind as TaRonda Wiles added four points to her game-high 27 to give the visiting Lady Bucs, 0-2, a 48-33 lead at the 18:45 mark of the second half. From there Chattanooga started chipping away at ETSU's lead with a 25-10 run to tie the game 58-58 with 8:10 to play.
Tagan Hatchett drained a 3-pointer at the 7:23 mark to give UTC a 61-60 lead and the Lady Mocs would never trail again. Tenisha Townsend backed that up with a “3” to spread the lead to four and Hatchett buried another followed by a Shanara Hollinquest layup to give Chattanooga it's biggest lead of the game, 69-61, with 5:49 to play.
The nail-biter wasn't over as the Bucs cut the lead to 70-69 with 1:19 to play. The Lady Mocs got a lay-in from Jenaya Wade-Fray and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to get the win.
Hollinquest recorded her seventh career double-double, leading the Lady Mocs with 18 points and 15 boards. She was one of five Chattanooga players in double-figures that included Erin Ogan's 11 points and eight rebounds, Wade-Fray's 14 and 10 each from LaCondra Mason and Tagan Hatchett.
Chattanooga outrebounded the Bucs 47-42 and had 19 assists to ETSU's 12.
Wiles led all scorers with 27 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double with eight. Siarre Evans added 13 points and eight rebounds while Latisha Belcher had 12 points and nine boards.
The Lady Mocs shot just 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, but had a much better second stanza making 16-of-33 for a 48.5 percent effort in the second. ETSU's performance in the second half did not match its first-half performance going from a 42.5 percent showing in the first to 36.8 percent in the second.
The Lady Mocs will remain at home to host the two-time defending national champion Lady Vols Friday, Nov. 21 at 6:30. The game will tip of at 6:30 to accommodate a television broadcast. Call the McKenzie Arena box office at 423-266-MOCS (6627) to get tickets today as the Lady Mocs try to “Pack the House”.
