University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
University of Georgia
Lady Mocs Upset Bid Falls Short at No. 18 Georgia
11/19/2010 6:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team hit a Georgia opponent 3-point record Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum but fell short of an upset with a 79-69 loss to the Lady Dogs as Georgia celebrated Andy Landers' 1,000th game as head coach.
The loss drops UTC down to 0-3 for the first time ever in Wes Moore's tenure at Chattanooga, while the Lady Dogs improve to 2-0 with a pair of wins over Southern Conference schools after opening the season with a 15-point win over Georgia Southern.
Chattanooga was hot from the perimeter in the first half starting the game with seven straight 3-pointers and closing out the first half with 10, one shy of a school record for a half, and battled the Lady Dogs as the lead bounced back-and-forth 18 times in the frame. Georgia pulled ahead as the half came to a close and led 46-40 at the break.
Junior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) and sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) combined for six treys in the first frame while freshman Meghan Downes (Newnan, Ga.) drained three of her own in the second.
After a quick foul on Chattanooga to start the game, the Lady Mocs bounced back with a trey from Christopher for its first lead of the game. Georgia came back with an 11-2 run for its largest lead of the first half, 13-5. Sophomore Kiara Smith (Rome, Ga.) drained a three followed by Christopher's second and one from freshman Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) to give UTC a 14-13 lead with 14:25 to play in the half.
After a Porsha Phillips lay-in gave the Lady Dogs a 15-14 lead, Smith nailed her second 3-pointer, extending UTC's lead back to 17-15. Georgia tied it on a layup, but The Lady Mocs answered back with its sixth 3-pointer of the half, this time from sophomore Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.).
After another layup from Phillips, Christopher hit her third trey to give UTC a 23-21 lead with just half the frame expired at 10:07. It would remain tight down the stretch with three more long-range bombs from Chattanooga, but it would be all Georgia with a 7-0 run in the final 1:10 of the half to take a 46-40 lead.
In the second, the Lady Dogs held Chattanooga off allowing UTC just four points over the first 6:08 of the half and took a 56-44 lead. The Lady Mocs would only get as close as seven points the rest of the half, with the perimeter game all but shut down. Georgia extended its lead to 71-55, its largest of the game, with 8:29 to play.
Junior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) hit back-to-back lay-ups and Downes drained two of her 3-pointers as the Lady Mocs outscored the Lady Dogs 14-8 but couldn't get any closer falling by 10 on the road.
Hood led the Lady Mocs with 14 points while Townsend had 13 and Christopher chipped in 11. Lambert had a team-high six rebounds and five Chattanooga players each had three assists.
Georgia was strong inside outscoring UTC 44-16 in the paint and outrebounded the Lady Mocs 45-22 with 17 offensive boards that resulted in 21 second chance points. Chattanooga forced 18 Lady Dog turnovers and turned that into 16 points.
The Lady Mocs shot 45.5 percent from the floor and had a 13-of-26 performance from the 3-point line, tying the Georgia opponent 3-point recorda. However, UTC made just 6-of-12 from the charity stripe. Georgia turned in a 55.9 percent (19-of-34) shooting performance in the first half to shoot 52.4 percent for the game on 33-of-63 from the floor.
Chattanooga returns to McKenzie Arena Tuesday night to host Austin Peay at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at GoMocs.com or call the McKenzie Arena box office at (423) 266-6627. Watch all the action live on Chattanooga All-Access. Live stats will be available at GoMocs.com and Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs" will have all the action live on ESPN 105.1 "The Zone".
