CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- On a night when the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga honored its past, the Lady Mocs were looking ahead, earning a 63-44 win over UNCG Saturday evening at the McKenzie Arena in front of a season-high crowd of 2,836.
The win snaps a two-game losing skid for the Lady Mocs as they move to 14-6 overall and 9-2 in Southern Conference action. UNCG falls to 3-15 on the year and 2-9 in league play. Chattanooga led from start to finish and got 19 points from the bench in the win.
Chattanooga started the game shooting 60 percent (6-of-10) with senior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) racking up nine points on a 4-of-4 start to give UTC a 15-4 lead with 13:43 to play in the opening stanza. The Lady Mocs lead grew to 11 points, but UNCG's Breonna Patterson hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut Chattanooga's lead to 17-12, the closest the Spartans would get in the first half.
Junior Kayla Christopher hit three of her four 3-pointers in the final 4:33 of the half to take Chattanooga into intermission with a 35-19 lead.
UNCG started the second half with six points from three different players to cut the lead to 35-25 at the 18:13 mark, but that is as close as it would get for the Spartans. Christopher hit a short jumper sparking a 15-5 run at the 16:40 mark of the half capped off by a layup from the left side by sophomore Faith Dupree (Knoxville, Tenn.) who finished with eight points, three rebounds and a steal.
Christopher dropped in a pair of free throws with 4:38 to play to give the Lady Mocs a 60-40 lead, its largest of the game. She finished with a game-high 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, tying UTC's season-high with four 3-pointers, all in the first half. Hood put in 16 points of her own in the game for her 10th straight double-digit game this season.
Freshman Ashley Southern (Tuscumbia, Ala.) had six points and four rebounds. Sophomore Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) had a game-high eight rebounds on the night while junior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) had five points and five rebounds for the Lady Mocs. Senior Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) and freshman Ka'Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) each dished out four assists with Townsend adding five points and Towns grabbing five boards.
The Lady Mocs struggled last week on the boards, but came on strong tonight outrebounding the Spartans 48-30 and had 18, one shy of a season-high, off the offensive glass. Chattanooga outscored UNCG 26-12 in the paint and had 18 second chance points. Both teams gave up 13 turnovers, but the Lady Mocs turned theirs into 20 points to the Spartans eight.
At halftime, former Lady Mocs players, coaches, trainers and managers were on hand for a special recognition in honor of the Lady Mocs Legends Weekend. The former Mocettes and Lady Mocs gathered at the DoubleTree hotel downtown for a private reception Friday night and then hosted a public reception at the Chattem Basketball Practice Facility. In attendance was UTC's first women's basketball varsity head coach Grace Keith. She started the program in the 1974-75 season and was the coach for two seasons. She was replaced in 1976 by Sharon Cable Fanning-Otis who was a member of that first team.
The Lady Mocs return to action Monday night when they play host to Elon whose four-game win streak was snapped Saturday at Samford in a 67-53 loss. The Phoenix is 10-10 overall and 6-5 in SoCon play. Chattanooga posted a 59-46 win over Elon at Alumni Gym on Dec. 3. The game will be carried live by ESPN3.com. The game can also be heard on ESPN 105.1 The Zone and live stats will be available at GoMocs.com, the official website of Chattanooga Athletics.
