CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team opened Southern Conference play with a hot-shooting 87-80 win over Georgia Southern today. The Lady Mocs put on an impressive offensive performance in front of the television audience with a SoCon record 16 three-pointers.
UTC (3-4, 1-0 SoCon) was on fire from behind the arc in the opening half, hitting 11 of their 15 attempts from deep. That tied a school record for made threes in a half set against Davidson on Jan. 8, 2007. Sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) led the way, making 4-of-6 from behind the arc to tie her career-high for 3-pointers in the first half.
Georgia Southern (1-7, 0-2 SoCon) was also lighting it up in the first 20 minutes, making half of their 30 attempts from the floor and 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Eight turnovers by Chattanooga kept the game close, but the Lady Mocs led 41-35 at the break.
Both teams were looking to impress the SportSouth viewers with their shooting touch, but this was the second game this season Chattanooga hit 10 or more threes in the first half. UTC also knocked down 10 at No. 18 Georgia on Nov. 19.
Christopher added her fifth trey on the Lady Mocs' first possession of the second half to take a 44-35 lead. Chattanooga went up 10 when junior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) scored inside for a 56-46 advantage with 13:45 left in the game.
An 8-0 run by the Eagles cut the lead to 56-54 with 11:35 left on the clock. Hood scored again inside to stop the spurt. As hot as Chattanooga was from outside for the game, the Lady Mocs still went down low to their leading scorer in crunch time. Hood scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.
The Eagles again trimmed the lead to 74-71 after a three from Jordi Cook with 4:12 left in the game. UTC broke the league mark with sophomore Kylie Lambert's (Etowah, Tenn.) three from the top of the key on the next possession.
Hood was very efficient today, finishing 10-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-6 from the foul line. She also had a career-high and game-high six assists to go with a game-high eight rebounds. Christopher finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
Junior Tenisha Townsend's (Antioch, Tenn.) career-high 17 points was almost overshadowed by the 20-point performances of her teammates. Regardless, she hit 6-of-11 from the floor, 4-of-7 from behind the arc and 1-of-2 free throws. She also had three assists against one turnover in 32 minutes at the point.
As a team, UTC finished 61.1 percent (33-for-54) from the field and 66.7 percent (16-of-24) from 3-point range. The 87 points were a season-high, as were the Lady Mocs' 20 assists in the game.
The Lady Mocs will now break for final exams next week. UTC returns to the floor on Saturday, Dec. 11, when it welcomes Kentucky to the McKenzie Arena for the first time. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. EST against the Wildcats. It is the second game of a doubleheader with the men hosting Murray State at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are available on GoMocs.com or by calling the UTC Ticket Office at (423) 266-MOCS (6627).
