DAVIDSON, N.C. --- Senior Shanara Hollinquest recorded her ninth double-double of the year and led three Chattanooga players in double figures as the Lady Mocs held off Davidson, 64-62, Monday night at Belk Arena.
The Lady Mocs are 12-6 on the year and move to 7-2 in Southern Conference play and first place overall. Davidson evens out its record to 8-8 and 6-2 in league action.
Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) went 5-for-8 on the night and had five free throws to lead the Lady Mocs with 15 points and grabbed her ninth double-double of the year with 11 rebounds. Freshman Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists and redshirt freshman Michelle Davis (Cleveland, Tenn.) had 11 points for UTC, four rebounds and two crucial steals.
Christopher got the scoring started early sinking both of her 3-pointers to get UTC out to an 8-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. Redshirt freshman Kiara Smith (Rome, Ga.) capped a 17-4 UTC run with back-to-back treys with 12:32 to play in the first half.
Davidson cut the lead back to single digits with five straight points before Smith drained her career-high third 3-pointer to put UTC up 20-9 with 10:44 in the half. Davidson outscored the Lady Mocs 22-15 over the remainder of the half and the Lady Mocs went into the break with a narrow 32-26 lead.
In the second half, the Lady Mocs would build its lead back to double digits with its largest margin of the game at 54-39 with 10:44 to play in the game. However, Davidson would chip away and hold UTC scoreless for the next 4:04 and trail 54-48 with 6:40 to play.
The Lady Mocs ended the scoring drought on a layin by sophomore Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) and Christopher connected on the front end of a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 57-48 with 5:16 to go.
On Christopher's miss, the Wildcats grabbed the rebound and converted on a layup by Kristen Johnsen and converted another UTC missed shot into a layup from Julia Paquette to get within five points at 57-52 at the 4:14 mark.
Paquette would foul Hollinquest on the trip down the court and she made both free throws to put UTC back up 59-52 with 3:05 to play, but Ashley Lax cut that lead back to four on a 3-pointer for a 59-55 lead for UTC at the 2:53 mark.
Chattanooga would turn the ball over twice and foul the Wildcats putting Alex Thompson at the line for two shots. She missed the second of her two free throws and Davis grabbed the board. UTC would miss on the other end, but Hollinquest grabbed the rebound and converted on the layup with 1:34 to play and put UTC back up 61-56.
The two teams would trade free throws to keep the margin at five before Davidson cut the lead to three with a jumper from Sophia Aleksandravicius with nine seconds to play. The Wildcats fouled Christopher and she made the first of her two putting the Lady Mocs up 64-60 with eight seconds to play.
Barbara Sitton went the length of the court on the throw in getting a layup with just one tick on the clock and the Lady Mocs held on to win 64-62 and move a half game into first place over Davidson.
The Lady Mocs will return to action Saturday at Noon in a league contest against Western Carolina. The game will be televised by Fox SportSouth and on the radio on ESPN Radio 105.1 The Zone. Larry Ward, "The Voice of the Lady Mocs" will have the call. Live stats and audio streaming will be available at the official website of UTC athletics, GoMocs.com.
