Chattanooga
St. Peter's College
Lady Mocs Claim SPC Holiday Classic Title
12/30/2009 11:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
JERSEY CITY, N.J. --- The Chattanooga women's basketball team defeated host St. Peter's College 66-50 Wednesday night to claim the SPC Holiday Classic title.
Chattanooga improves to 8-6 overall and will return home to begin the Southern Conference season in earnest hosting the College of Charleston Saturday night at the Roundhouse.
Free throws were again the story of the night for Chattanooga who went 23-for-27 (85.2 percent) from the charity stripe. The Lady Mocs iced the victory down the stretch on eight straight free throws from sophomore Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) who finished the game with a career-high 13 points.
Following an exciting double-overtime victory against Richmond on Tuesday, the Lady Mocs started the game with a 4-2 lead that evaporated briefly to a 10-6 deficit fueled by an 8-2 run by the Peahens. Chattanooga would push a 10-3 run to retake a lead it would not relinquish the remainder of the game.
Senior Shanara Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) started the game out strong making all six of Chattanooga's first points and closing out the first half with 11 points. Freshman Erin Helton (Cookeville, Tenn.) had seven points at the break while Townsend and freshman Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) each chipped in five in the first half to help the Lady Mocs to a 33-29 halftime lead.
In the second half, Chattanooga went cold from beyond the arc missing all nine attempts and shooting just 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from the field. Senior Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.) stepped up to lead the Lady Mocs' second half scoring with 10 of her 11 points. Hollinquest added nine to her total for a game-high of 20 points making 5-of-7 from the free throw line in the period.
The Peahens would get as close as eight points twice in the second half. Morris missed a layup that would have cut the lead to six. Morris had 11 points for St. Peter's. Jynae Judson led the Peahens with 15 points and Charlene Riddick had nine in the loss.
Hollinquest was named the tournament MVP with 45 points and 19 rebounds over the two-day tournament. She had four assists, one blocked shot, two steals and was 23-of-27 from the free throw line. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Wade-Fray who had 26 points, 10 rebounds, five assist and was 4-for-5 from the charity stripe.
Erin Helton averaged 11.5 points and seven rebounds over the two days while Townsend combined for 19 points including a 9-of-10 performance from the free throw line.
The Lady Mocs will host the College of Charleston Saturday evening at the McKenzie Arena. Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs", will have all the action line on ESPN 105.1 The Zone. Live stats, streaming audio and video will be available online at the official website of UTC athletics, GoMocs.com.
