CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- On a night when she eclipsed a milestone, senior Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.) also provided the Lady Mocs with a much-needed second-option in a 69-56 Southern Conference win against Furman.
Chattanooga was led by senior Shanara Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) who scored a game-high 25 points, but Wade-Fray helped to put away the Lady Paladins with 14 points and eight boards. Wade-Fray also topped 1,000 points for her career in the win.
The Lady Mocs improved to 3-5 on the year and evened their SoCon mark at 1-1. Furman falls to 2-7 overall and 1-2 in SoCon action. It is Chattanooga's 17th consecutive win over Furman.
The first half started out with each team answering the other on the offensive end. There were four ties and seven lead changes in the first eight minutes of the game. The Lady Mocs took the lead when freshman Erin Helton (Cookeville, Tenn.) rolled one in from the baseline to go up 10-9 at the 11:49 mark.
Chattanooga led by as many as nine points in the opening half, on a lay-up by Wade-Fray with 5:32 left on the clock. Furman's Kendra Berry cut the lead to 27-23 with just over two minutes left. Both teams combined to go 0-6 the rest of the way, giving UTC a four-point lead at the break.
Furman started the second half on a 10-5 run. Regan Thompson's three from the corner gave the Paladins a 33-32 lead at the 16:28 mark. Thompson hit another 3-pointer to give Furman a 42-38 lead with 10:47 left.
Chattanooga answered with a 9-0 run to take control of the game for good. Hollinquest scored her 11th consecutive point on an and-one to put UTC up 43-42 with 10:02 left. She headed to the bench for some much needed rest and a one-point lead.
Over the past two games, Hollinquest was the only Lady Moc to reach double-figures, so when she took a breather, someone needed to step up. Freshman Michelle Davis (Cleveland, Tenn.) scored inside and Wade-Fray reached 1,000 career points on a pull-up jumper to extend the lead to 47-42. Helton and freshman Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) also got into the act to put UTC up 51-47 with 6:44 and Hollinquest still resting on the bench.
Hollinquest checked back in at the 6:22 mark and immediately converted a three-point play to give Chattanooga a 54-49 lead. Wade-Fray scored the Lady Mocs' next nine points to help put the game away.
UTC shot 52.8% from the floor and got 10 points off the bench from Christopher to go with Hollinquest and Wade-Fray's totals. Furman was led by Lee Stephen's 19 points, five boards and four assists.
The Lady Mocs are back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 9 when they host Wofford in the McKenzie Arena at 7:00 p.m. The game will broadcast on ESPN Radio 105.1 FM with Larry Ward, "the Voice of the Lady Mocs", providing play-by-play. Live stats, video and audio are also available on GoMocs.com.
