STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Chattanooga women's basketball team finally got the 20-point win for Head Coach Wes Moore in a 70-48 decision over Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon at the Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Lady Mocs improve to 18-6 overall and maintain their lead in the Southern Conference with a 13-2 league record. Georgia Southern falls to 13-10 overall and 8-6 in SoCon action.
Senior Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.) had a game-high 20 points with eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Senior Shanara Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) posted her 12th double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia Southern got out to a 10-5 lead just over five minutes into the game, but it wouldn't get any better than that for GSU. UTC senior Megan Rollins (Monteagle, Tenn.) hit a layup and sparked an 11-2 run capped off with a 3-pointer from freshman Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) to put the Lady Mocs up 16-12 with 9:30 to play in the half.
The two teams kept it even trading buckets over the next five minutes before the Lady Mocs broke it open and expanded its lead to double figures. Chattanooga outscored the Eagles 15-2 over the final 3:52 of the period to take a 40-24 lead into the locker room at the half.
Chattanooga was 16-for-29 (55.2%) in the first half from the floor draining 5-of-12 from beyond the 3-point line.
Chattanooga maintained its lead through the first half of the second period, however, Christopher drained a 3-pointer at the 8:13 mark and Wade-Fray scored the next six of UTC's eight points in an 11-0 run by the Lady Mocs to grab their largest lead of the game, 65-39, with just over four minutes to play.
The Lady Mocs shot 50.9 percent for the game and held the Eagles to a 36.4 percent performance allowing just one 3-pointer in 14 tries. Chattanooga was 10-of-23 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
Chattanooga grabbed 13 steals off 16 Georgia Southern turnovers and scored 19 points off the miscues. UTC dished out 11 assists and won the battle of the boards 36-30. Christopher went 4-for-6 from the 3-point line and was the third UTC player in double figures with 12 points. Redshirt freshman Michelle Davis (Cleveland, Tenn.) went 3-for-5 scoring nine points and grabbing eight boards and four steals.
Carolyn Whitney led Georgia Southern with 14 points, 10 in the first half and Samantha Williams had 13 points making 6-of-9. J'Lisia Ogburn was held to just six points and Jessica Geiger led the Eagles with eight rebounds.
Chattanooga will travel to Charleston, S.C., to take on the College of Charleston in a noon game at the Carolina First Arena on Monday. Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs" will have all the action live on the flagship station of the Chattanooga Mocs, 105.1 FM, the Zone. Live stats, streaming audio and video will be available at the official website of UTC, GoMocs.com.
