CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defeated the College of Charleston 65-48 Monday night at the McKenzie Arena in Southern Conference women's basketball action and handed Head Coach Wes Moore his 500th career win.
The win was also Moore's 300th win at Chattanooga and his 200th Southern Conference regular season win. The Lady Mocs improve to 10-11 overall and 7-5 in SoCon action while the Cougars fall to 6-16 overall and 3-10 in league play.
The College of Charleston opened the game on a 10-2 run behind eight points from Tonia Gerty while Chattanooga struggled making just 1-of-11 from the field including a 0-for-4 effort from beyond the arc. The Cougars built its lead to double digits at 14-4 before the Lady Mocs found its offense and managed to tie it up 14-14 on a 10-0 run capped by a layup from junior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) with 6:56 to play in the half.
The Lady Mocs knotted the score twice more but was unable to get past the College of Charleston and trailed 24-22 at the half. Chattanooga shot just 29 percent (9-of-31) in the first half, was 1-for-8 from beyond the arc and 3-of-7 from the free throw line. The Cougars went 10-for-29 from the field making 3-of-11 from the 3-point line and made it only free throw of the stanza.
At the start of the second half, the Lady Mocs gave up a quick basket to Charleston before going on an 18-5 tear capped by a 3-pointer from freshman Destiny Bramblett (Radcliff, Ky.). The run started with a 3-pointer from Townsend and UTC took the lead for good at 27-26 on a pair of free throws from junior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.).
Townsend's second 3-pointer capped off a 10-0 run and the Lady Mocs led 32-26 with 15:02 to play. Another eight points over the next five minutes gave the Lady Mocs their first double-digit lead at 40-29 with 11:28 to play.
The Cougars, however, would not go away and got to within six, 40-34 on five points from Alyssa Frye in less than a minute. Townsend and Hood responded with five points to push the lead back to 11, 45-34 with 9:08 to play.
Chattanooga would continue to push its offense and, on back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.), the Lady Mocs lead jumped 59-42 with less than five minutes remaining. UTC built its lead to 19 twice on shots from freshman Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) who had six points and two steals in 10 minutes of playing time.
Hood led all scorers with 17 points and had a team-high eight boards. Christopher went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and had 16 point along with a game-high-tying six assists. Townsend had 13 points on a 3-for-4 showing from the 3-point line, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists.
The Lady Mocs had 19 assists on the night to just nine turnovers, both one shy of season bests. Chattanooga scored 23 points off of 13 forced turnovers and gave up just nine to the Cougars. CofC got 25 points from its bench led by Megan Fisher who had 11 points behind a 3-for-5 showing from beyond the arc. Gerty led the Cougars with 14 points, had eight rebounds and four assists with just one steal. Janae Smith dropped in seven points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Frye had nine points and three boards.
Chattanooga will remain at home to host preseason Southern Conference favorite Samford Wednesday night at the Roundhouse in the second women's basketball installment of the Southern Rail Rivalry Series.
The Bulldogs are 15-6 overall and 8-4 in league play. The two teams tangled just two weeks ago in Birmingham, Ala., with Samford coming out on top 61-49. The game will be carried live on ESPN 105.1 FM and Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs", will have the call. Live stats, along with video and audio streaming on MocsVision will be available at the official website of Chattanooga Athletics, GoMocs.com.
Game 5 of "Mocs Hoopla" continues Wednesday night and the first 1,000 fans through the gate will receive a Wes Moore bobblehead doll celebrating his 500 career wins. Call the McKenzie Arena box office at 423.266.MOCS (6627) for tickets or online at GoMocs.com.
