CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team fell 74-61 to Elon on a snowy Monday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena snapping a four-game win streak.
Chattanooga falls to 7-9 overall and 4-3 in Southern Conference action while the Phoenix improve to 9-5 overall and 4-2 in league play.
The Lady Mocs jumped out to an early 15-4 lead capped by a pair of layups from junior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) with 14:17 to play in the half. However, it would dissipate over the next eight minutes as the Phoenix held Chattanooga to just two free throws and cut the lead to 17-13 after a turnover followed by a fast break layup from Ali Ford with 6:54 in the half.
Chattanooga pushed its lead back up to eight points behind freshmen Meghan Downes (Fairburn, Ga.)O and Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) over the next 1:17 to 21-15, but Elon would make it a two-point game at the half.
Hall scored five more points over the final 4:25 of the first half for a career-high seven points in just her sixth game with Chattanooga.
In the second half, the Phoenix took the lead on a jumper from Ford and never gave it back. Chattanooga tied it up twice more with points from Hood, but the Phoenix turned it up and outscored the Lady Mocs 46-31 in the second half and had a 30-12 advantage in the latter period on the boards.
Hood, held to eight points in the first half, led all scorers with 21 points on 10-of-16 from the floor and had six rebounds. Junior Bailey Dewart scored 10 points in the game, pulled down a team-best seven rebounds and had a career-high five steals.
Dewart, sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) and junior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) each knocked down two 3's apiece. Christopher put in eight points and dished out three assists. Sophomore Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) had seven points, three assists and a career-high tying three blocked shots.
Kelsey Evans posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Shon Redmond led the Phoenix with 17 points and five steals. Ford had 11 points and had a game-high four assists. The league's leading 3-point shooting shot a dismal 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. Aiesha Harper was 6-for-7 from the field with 16 points and had two blocks.
Elon outscored Chattanooga 38-24 in the paint and was outscored 25-9 in bench points. The Phoenix outrebounded the Lady Mocs 48-26 and went 19-for-26 from the free throw line.
Despite a significant snowfall and the cancellation of many events around the Chattanooga area, the game carried on with a moved up start time by three hours.
Chattanooga will hit the road for a three-game SoCon road trip beginning Friday evening at Davidson. The game will be carried live on ESPN 105.1 and Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs" will have the call. Live stats will be available at GoMocs.com.
