GREENSBORO, N.C. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball ateam defeated UNC Greensboro 67-54 Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym in Southern Conference action.
The Lady Mocs improve to 6-6 overall and 3-2 in SoCon action. UNC Greensboro falls to 3-7 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Seniors Shanara Hollinquest and Jenaya Wade-Fray led the Lady Mocs attack with a pair of double-doubles. For the third time in four games, Wade-Fray led the scoring with 19 points and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds while Hollinquest again came on strong in the second half and closed out the game with 18 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
Chattanooga got on the board first and never trailed but the Spartans fought to stay in the game getting as close as two points late in the game several times as time was running out.
Senior Tagan Hatchett got the scoring started with a 3-pointer from the right side with Wade-Fray and senior Megan Rollins following suit with one each to give the Lady Mocs a 10-2 lead less than six minutes into the game.
Freshman Kayla Christopher erupted for a trio of first half 3-pointers to keep the Lady Mocs on top in the first half. Chattanooga held a 35-30 advantage at halftime.
Hollinquest started the second half with a jumper and she and Rollins combined for a 10-2 run to stretch the Lady Mocs' lead to 45-32 with 13:31 to play in the game. The Spartans, however, put together a 15-4 run to cut the lead to 49-47 with 8:20 to play.
The advantage would bounce back Chattanooga's way with a 12-3 run by the Lady Mocs pushing the lead to 61-50 with 3:51 to play. Freshman Kylie Lambert and Wade-Fray hit another pair of 3-pointers to give the Lady Mocs' their largest lead of the game at 67-52.
Three Spartan players reached double figures led by Lakiah Hyson and Amanda Leigh's 14 points. Sarah Folwell had 11 points and Hyson led UNCG with eight boards and four steals.
Chattanooga went 9-for-22 from beyond the 3-point line and outrebounded the Spartans 52-35. UTC scored 13 second chance points off 12 offensive boards and got 22 points from the bench. UNCG forced 26 Chattanooga turnovers and scored 22 points off the miscues.
The Lady Mocs will take a break for the holiday and return to action December 29 against the Richmond Spiders at 5 p.m. in the first game of the St. Peter's College Holiday Classic in Jersey City, N.J.
