CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- After getting off to slow starts several times this season, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team jumped out hard and fast defeating Kennesaw State 76-39 in just the second home game of the season for the Lady Mocs. UTC has not played at home since opening the season with a win against UAB on Nov. 11.
The Lady Mocs (5-3, 2-0 SoCon) posted six points before the Owls (3-5) could formulate an answer and went on to build its lead into double digits midway through the first half. Chattanooga never trailed in the game and led 42-17 at halftime.
With 8:44 to play until intermission, sophomore Meghan Downes was fouled after making a jumper and converted the old-fashioned 3-point play to give the Lady Mocs a 19-7 lead, its largest of the game and spark a 15-2 run that put UTC up by 22 points four minutes later. The Lady Mocs would outscore Kennesaw State 11-8 over the final 4:55 for a 25-point halftime lead.
All 14 Chattanooga players saw action Monday night in front of a friendly home crowd of 1,710, with nine players registering points in UTC's largest scoring output this season. Also getting some playing time for the first time in more than two years was transfer Faith Dupree (Knoxville, Tenn.) who gained her eligibility Monday night after sitting the required year by the NCAA.
Dupree, in a reserve position, played nine minutes and scored six points with three rebounds. She got off to a shaky start but sank a pair of free throws for her first points.
In the second half, the Owls came out strong and quickly outscored UTC 8-2 over the first three minutes cutting Chattanooga's lead to 44-25, but that's as close as it would get the rest of the way through as the Lady Mocs continued to push its offense. Dupree put in back-to-back layups to push the Lady Mocs lead back to 23 points, 48-25. Senior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) and junior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) drained back-to-back 3's and suddenly the Lady Mocs were up 54-25 with 13:22 to play in the game.
The Lady Mocs would continue to its onslaught racking up 10 steals in the second half and forcing 13 turnovers by the Owls. Chattanooga scored 33 points in the game off 20 KSU miscues and had 19 second chance points from 17 offensive boards. The Lady Mocs outscored Kennesaw State 32-20 in the paint and got 34 points from their bench.
Junior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) lit it up in the first half sinking 4-of-5 long range bombs and had a game-high tying 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore Alex Back (Memphis, Tenn.) played 22 minutes and also notched 14 points, a career-high, going 6-of-8 from the field including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. She had three rebounds and dished out three assists.
Christopher dished out a season-high six assists and Townsend added another four to the Lady Mocs' season-high 21 assists. For the third straight game, Chattanooga grabbed at least 52 rebounds.
The Lady Mocs remain at home, hosting Belmont this Thursday at the Roundhouse. The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m. Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs" will have the action live on ESPN 105.1 FM. Live stats and streaming video as well as audio, will be available at GoMocs.com and MocsVision.
