CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team fell 77-60 in instate rival East Tennessee State Friday night at the McKenzie Arena in the season opener for both teams.
ETSU (1-0), paced by Destiny Mitchell's 16-point, 12-rebound double-double, outscored the Lady Mocs 27-8 down the stretch to secure the win after Chattanooga gained its final lead of the game at 52-50 with 9:41 to play.
Chattanooga (0-1) started slow, trailing the Lady Bucs 23-13 with 8:57 to play in the first half. Junior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) drained a 3-pointer that sparked a 16-2 run that gave UTC its largest lead of the game at 29-25 with 4:33 to play before intermission.
The Lady Bucs rallied back with nine points over the remainder of the frame, but Townsend with third 3-pointer of the half, cut the lead to 34-33 as both team headed to the locker room.
The second half started with the advantage changing hands five times before ETSU's final rally put Chattanooga away. Trailing by five with 10:52 to play, sophomore Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) cut the lead to 50-47 with a pair of free throws. That was followed by Townsend's career-best fourth 3-pointer to tie the game at 50-50. Junior Bailey Dewart (Spartanburg, Tenn.), with a career-high 11 boards, sank a pair of shots from the charity stripe to give the Lady Mocs their final lead, 52-50 with 9:41 to play.
Chattanooga went cold hitting just 3-of-14 from the field over the remainder of the game. Townsend and sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) combined for all eight of Chattanooga's eight 3-pointers with Christopher leading UTC with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Junior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) had 15 points in her first regular season game with UTC and pulled down five rebounds. Townsend scored all 12 of her points on 3-pointers and had four assists.
East Tennessee's Tara Davis led all scorers with 23 points with seven assists, a trio of 3-pointers and went 6-for-6 from the line. Gwen Washington had 17 points and four rebounds. ETSU outrebounded the Lady Mocs 45-40 with Chattanooga gaining a 16-15 advantage on the boards and had 17 second chance points.
The Lady Bucs outscored UTC in the paint 36-22 and shot 46 percent for the game with a 53.3 percent (16-30) second half performance.
Chattanooga will be on the road for both games next week beginning with a Monday night contest in Knoxville to take on the No. 4 Lady Vols at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will be televised by SportSouth. Live stats will be available at GoMocs.com and Larry Ward will have all the action live on ESPN Radio 106.9 FM.
