BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team fell 61-49 to Samford Wednesday night at the Pete Hanna Center in Southern Conference action. The Lady Mocs fall to 8-11 overall and 5-5 in SoCon action. The Bulldogs improve to 13-6 overall and 6-4 in the league standings.
After trailing 51-35 with 7:41 to play, the Lady Mocs held the Bulldogs scoreless over the next 5:41. Chattanooga managed to cut into the lead with a 7-0 run behind five points from sophomore Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) to make it 51-42 with 3:24 to play, but nine points was as close as it would get for Chattanooga. Samford pushed it lead back up to 14 over the next 1:21.
Sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) scored five points in a 7-2 Chattanooga run to cut the Bulldog lead back to nine, but the push would come too late with just 34 seconds remaining in regulation.
Savannah Hill exploded for 15 second half points, including a trio of 3-pointers, for a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds. Emily London just missed a double-double of her own with 14 points and nine rebounds. Hill and London each dished out five assists. Hannah Dawson was the third Bulldog in double figures with 10 points.
Samford slowly built up to its first half double digit lead. With the Bulldogs up 14-7 at the 9:53 mark of the first half, Christopher hit a layup and drained a pair of free throws to get the Lady Mocs to within three, 14-11 with 8:16 to play. However, Samford had an answer with a 3-pointer and a layup from London to go up 19-11 with more than seven to play in the stanza.
After falling behind 29-15 at the 4:55 mark of the first half, The Lady Mocs outscored Samford 8-2 over the remainder of the half to trail 31-23 at intermission.
Samford came out strong in the second half with seven points from Ruth Ketcham and just two from Chattanooga junior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) to go up 38-25. Chattanooga got to within 10, 41-31 less than two minutes later but Samford pushed back to go up 47-33 with 14:18 to play.
Both teams went cold from the floor over the next six minutes. UTC went 0-7, including five from beyond the arc while Samford went 0-5 on its chances. The Bulldogs ended the scoring drought with a layup from Hill for its largest lead of the game, 49-33, with 8:59 to play. Chattanooga outscored the Bulldogs 16-12 over the remainder of the game behind Christopher's and Lambert's combined 10 points.
Samford was 24-of-53 from the field and drilled 10-of-22 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs bested the Lady Mocs on the glass 43-32 but both teams combined for just 10 offensive boards.
The Lady Mocs were 20-of-62 from the field and made just 14.8 percent (4-of-27) of their 3-point attempts. Chattanooga had just nine turnovers in the game and recorded eight steals.
Christopher and Hood each put up a team-best 14 points while Christopher tied her career high with seven assists. Hood had a team-high six rebounds and had a career-high three blocked shots and no turnovers.
The Lady Mocs return to the McKenzie Arena to host Western Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. The game will be carried live on 106.9 FM with Larry Ward, the “Voice of the Lady Mocs” on the mic. Live stats along with video and audio streaming will be available at Chattanooga All-Access. Log onto the official website of Chattanooga athletics, GoMocs.com for tickets and information.
