CULLOWHEE, N.C. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team toppled Western Carolina 66-41 in Southern Conference action, running its league win streak to 45 consecutive games.
Chattanooga won its 19th straight game and improved to 23-3 overall and 11-0 in league play. The Catamounts fall to 9-17 on the year and 1-10 against the SoCon.
It took more than two minutes for the first basket to fall, but once it did, the Mocs went on a 12-2 run to get out front with 14:17 to go in the first half. Western Carolina made it a nine-point game, 18-9 at the 9:34 mark. However, it would be all Chattanooga the remainder of the half with a 17-2 run to make it 33-11 at halftime.
The Mocs started the second half on a 14-4 run to take a 49-15 lead with 14:13 to play and go on to win the contest by a 25-point margin.
All 10 Chattanooga players scored in the contest with sophomore Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) leading the way with a game-high 18 points scoring 14 in the second half alone. She was 9-of-16 from the field. She added six blocked shots and moved to second on the Southern Conference list for blocks in a single season with a school-record 103.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) dropped in three 3-pointers in the first half and had 13 points and three assists. Freshman Keiana Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) had 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds. Senior Ka'Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) had a game-high eight rebounds, a career-best, with five points. Junior Alicia Payne dished out a career-high eight assists with four points and five rebounds and matcher her career-high with five steals.
The Mocs shot 50.8 percent from the field and were 5-of-19 from the 3-point line. Chattanooga outrebounded the Catamounts 33-29. UTC dominated the paint 46-14 and led wire-to-wire. The Mocs forced 20 turnovers and scored 24 points off the Catmount miscues while putting in 15 points second chance points on 12 offensive rebounds.
Western Carolina's Justin Taylor and Ace Easter were the only two players in double figures for the Catamounts and combined for 21 of their 41 points. Taylor had a team-high five rebounds. WCU shot just 17.4 percent in the first half making 4-of-23 but stepped up its game in the second half making 10-of-20 from the field.
The Mocs remain on the road Saturday at Samford. The game is set to tip off at 3 p.m. Eastern Time at the Pete Hanna Center on the Bulldog campus. Live scoring and streaming audio and video will be available at GoMocs.com. Listen live on the flagship station of Chattanooga basketball, 96.1 FM The Legend.
