CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Sophomores Faith Dupree (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Meghan Downes (Newnan, Ga.) combined to score 42 points in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's 80-65 Southern Conference women's basketball victory over Elon Monday night at the McKenzie Arena. Chattanooga improves to 15-6 overall and 10-2 in league play while the Phoenix fall to 10-11 on the year and 6-6 in the SoCon.
The pair, normally one of the first off the bench saw increased playing time when the Lady Mocs' two leading scorers were unable to take the court. Senior forward Whitney Hood experienced pain in her knee and was pulled in favor of Dupree just moments into the game, while Downes was a late addition to the starting lineup after junior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) fell ill.
Dupree scored a career-high 24 points in 27 minutes and tied her career-best with four rebounds She went 9-for-18 from the field and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Downes was one shy of her career-high knocking down 18 points, 12 in the first half, in 33 minutes of play shooting 7-of-13 from the field and was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Four Chattanooga players scored in double figures on the night with sophomore Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) recording her fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while freshman Ka'Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) had a career-high 11 points and three steals and was 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Senior point guard Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) dished out a career-high nine assists with just two turnovers and tied her career-best with three steals.
Elon got out to a 7-4 start on the Lady Mocs through the first four minutes of the game. However, Downes answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to give UTC a 10-7 lead and Chattanooga never looked back. Those six points sparked a 31-8 drumming by the Lady Mocs for a 35-15 lead, UTC's largest, with 4:11 to play in the first half. UTC led 43-26 at the break.
With scoring from four different players, Elon outscored Chattanooga 13-8 over the first 3:33 of the second half, including an 8-0 run by the Phoenix, to cut the Lady Mocs lead to 51-39. That's the closest Elon would get the remainder of the way.
Freshman Kayla Freeman (Carlton, Ga.), Dupree and Towns combined for the next 14 UTC points to give the Lady Mocs a 65-4 lead with 6:25 to play. Twice more Chattanooga got its lead up to 19 points and go on to record the 15-point win.
This marks the second time this season that the Lady Mocs have scored 80 or more points and just the first time topping the mark against a league opponent. Chattanooga's bench outscored Elon 44-8 and had a 20-0 advantage in the first half. In the paint, UTC put up 38 points and gave up 24 to the Phoenix. Chattanooga forced 19 Elon miscues, including a season-high 13 steals, and took advantage outscoring the Phoenix 25-9 off turnovers. After getting outrebounded last weekend, Chattanooga recorded its second straight game outrebounding its opponents outdueling Elon 38-30 with 12 from the offensive glass.
Chattanooga went 18-of-33 (54.5%) from the field in the first half and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the frame, but the second half would be turned around as UTC scored 16-of-21 from the free throw line and was just 10-of-30 from the field. The Lady Mocs, ranked 24th among all NCAA Division I schools in the nation at the free throw line, shot 80 percent (20-of-25) from the charity stripe.
Elon was led by Aiesha Harper and Ali Ford's 18 points. Harper had a team-best six rebounds, five assists and committed five turnovers. Ford pulled down five boards and also dished out a team-best five assists while recording four turnovers. Kelsey Evans had 11 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Phoenix went 22-fo-51 on the night (43.1%) and were 8-of-23 from the 3-point arc while making 13-of-21 from the free throw line.
Chattanooga will be on the road this weekend beginning with a 6 p.m. meeting with Wofford in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Feb. 4. The Terriers are 10-11 overall and 3-9 in the Southern Conference after recording a win over Georgia Southern at home tonight.
Larry Ward, the "Voice of the Lady Mocs", will have the call live on WPLZ 95.3 FM. Live stats and video streaming will be available at GoMocs.com on the schedule page and at GameDay Central.
