CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team recorded its fourth straight win with a 75-42 victory over Belmont (2-9) Thursday night at the McKenzie Arena.
For the fourth straight game this season, the Lady Mocs held their opponent to less than 46 points, also marking the first time that has happened in UTC women's basketball history. The Lady Mocs improve to 6-3 on the year and will return to Southern Conference action Monday night against Western Carolina.
Chattanooga started the first half outscoring the Bruins 10-4 over the first five minutes of play. Belmont responded with four points to cut the lead to 10-8 and would get to within two again at 12-10 with 11:47 to play in the first half, but that would be the closest it would be the remainder of the game. Chattanooga allowed Belmont just eight points the rest of the half and led 29-18 at the break.
In the second half, Chattanooga continued to push its offense, maintaining the double-digit lead. With 15:51 to play, sophomore Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) scored her sixth and seventh points of the half on free throws, sparking a 25-4 run that would see that lead grow to 64-30, the largest of the game, with 6:59 to play.
The Lady Mocs shot a scorching 62.5 percent in the second half making 15-of-24 attempts and was 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. After shooting just one free throw in the first half, UTC was 12-of-15 from the charity stripe in the second.
Chattanooga got scoring from 13 of its 14 players who saw action with a team-high 13 from Hall who also had five rebounds and three assists. Junior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) started the game with a 3-pointer and closed out with 11 points and eight rebounds and classmate Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) chipped in 10 points with three rebounds and three assists.
Senior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) was shy of a double-double with nine points and eight boards through 23 minutes of play and sophomore Meghan Downes (Fairburn, Ga.) had seven points, four rebounds and two assists.
Belmont was led in scoring by Haley Nelson who had a game-high 20 points and team-best six rebounds. Katie Brooks put in nine points with five rebounds and four assists while Alyssa Visbeen contributed seven points and five rebounds.
Chattanooga outrebounded the Bruins 42-32 with 11 offensive boards and scored 18 points off 14 Belmont turnovers. Chattanooga's bench was productive with 29 points to the Bruins five.
The Lady Mocs return to action Monday night at the Roundhouse hosting SoCon foe Western Carolina in a 7:00 p.m. tip. Tickets are available at GoMocs.com, the official site of Chattanooga athletics or by calling the McKenzie Arena box office at 423-266-MOCS (6627).
