NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team brought a halt to a four-game losing skid with a 66-61 win over Belmont at the Curb Event Center Thursday afternoon.
Chattanooga improves to 4-8 overall with the win in the first meeting between the two teams since 1981. The Lady Mocs are 6-3 against the Bruins and have won each of the last four games. Belmont drops to 4-7 overall.
Junior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) dropped in 10 points in the first half and closed out the game with 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds for a game and career-high 18 points.
After leading by as much as seven in the first half, the Lady Mocs carried a tenuous 29-28 lead into halftime. Through midway of the second half, the Lady Mocs maintained a narrow lead, never getting out front by more than five points.
However, Belmont connected on a pair of free throws at the 11:47 mark then tied it up 45-45 on a 3-pointer from Kristin Nash with 10:37 to play. A trey from Shaunda Strayhorn gave Belmont its first lead since early in the first half at 48-46 at the 8:47 mark. Hood would knot it up with a pair of free throws, but the Bruins retook the lead on a pair of shots from the charity stripe from Nash.
The lead went back and forth with one more tie before Chattanooga took control on a short jumper from sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) and never trailed again grabbing it largest lead of the game at 63-54 on a pair of free throws from Townsend with 30 seconds to play.
Dewart dropped in 11 points with three 3-pointers and eight rebounds. Hood had 15 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Freshman Destiny Bramblett (Radcliff, Ky.) matched her career-high with seven points.
After shooting 31.1 percent (10-of-32) in the first half, the Lady Mocs went 11-of-24 (45.8) in the second half. Chattanooga edged Belmont on the boards 36-34 and scored 13 points off 16 Bruin turnovers. UTC was held to a season-low eight turnovers and dished out 12 assists.
Chattanooga returns to Southern Conference action this Sunday with a 3 p.m. matchup against Wofford at the McKenzie Arena as the Lady Mocs march toward its 200th game at the Roundhouse on Jan. 4. The game will be carried live on ESPN 105.1 FM with the "Voice of the Lady Mocs" Larry Ward. Live audio and video streaming will be available at Chattanooga All-Access on GoMocs.com.
