CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Redshirt freshman Michelle Davis posted a career night and led three Chattanooga players in double-doubles as the Lady Mocs gained their revenge on Elon with an 83-64 win Saturday at the McKenzie Arena in women's basketball action.
The Lady Mocs won their 11th consecutive game, tied for sixth best in school history, and improved to 16-6 overall and 11-2 in conference play. The Phoenix fall to 8-14 overall and 3-10 in the SoCon. Chattanooga's last loss was on Dec. 17 at Elon.
Davis (Cleveland, Tenn.), who had 12 boards by halftime, had 20 points and 19 rebounds, both career-highs. Senior Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.) had a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double this season. She drained a trio of 3-pointers to move to fourth all-time in the Southern Conference with 194 career made treys. Senior Shanara Hollinquest was the Lady Mocs' third player with a double-double recording her 11th this season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The game started with neither team able to gain the advantage. The game knotted up for the fourth and final time in a 12-12 tie with 14:11 to play in the half. Davis got the Lady Mocs started on a 10-0 run with a pair of free throws capped off with a fast break layup from Wade-Fray putting UTC up 22-12 with 10:17 to play until the half.
Elon tried cutting into the lead getting as close as 30-24 at the 6:38 mark, but the Lady Mocs pulled away with a 42-26 halftime advantage.
In the second half, the Lady Mocs turned to its outside game, but couldn't match the seven made 3-pointers of the first half. Hollinquest hit a layup, grabbed a defensive rebound and dropped in a 3-pointer on the other end to put Chattanooga up 47-30 just less than two minutes into the second half. After that, the Lady Mocs' 3-point shooting disintegrated as they missed their next four attempts before Davis hit a layup at the 14:16 mark. Wade-Fray and Davis followed with a pair of layups and UTC's lead stretched to 53-34 with 13:20 to play in the game.
Elon, however, would not be quieted as they put together a 14-4 run to cut Chattanooga's lead to a slim nine points with 9:46 to go. With the lead at 59-50 for the Lady Mocs at the 8:30 mark, Chattanooga put together its greatest run of the game outscoring the Phoenix 20-3 and grabbing its largest lead of the game at 79-53 with 3:18 to go.
Freshman Kayla Christopher was the fourth Chattanooga player in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds. Wade-Fray recorded a season-high in assists with five on the night and added four more steals to season total. Sophomore Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) just missed double-figures with nine points going 6-for-7 from the free throw line and had three assists.
The Lady Mocs outrebounded Elon 58-44 and scored 25 points off 16 Phoenix miscues. Chattanooga had 11 steals to Elon's five and had 14 assists.
Elon's Ali Ford had a team-high 20 points and the league-leader for made 3-pointers, hit just one of her nine attempts from the arc. Lei Lei Hairston had 12 points and nine rebounds, just missing a double-double of her own and Kelsey Evans had eight points, six boards and three blocked shots. Courtney Medley had six points a team-high 10 rebounds for Elon while Urysla Cotton had five points, eight boards and a pair of blocked shots on the night.
Larry Ward, "the Voice of the Lady Mocs" resumed his duties behind the mic after suffering a mini stroke two weeks ago prior to the Lady Mocs' game at Davidson.
Chattanooga will host UNC Greensboro Monday night at the Roundhouse. All the action will be broadcast live on the flagship station of Chattanooga athletics, ESPN Radio 105.1 FM. Live stats, streaming video and audio is available as always on the official website of UTC athletics, GoMocs.com.
