CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team posted its second straight unbeaten Southern Conference season with a 64-42 win over ETSU Saturday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena in the season finale for both teams.
The Mocs improve to 26-3 on the year and 14-0 in league play, running its SoCon regular season win streak to 48 games. The win was the Mocs' 22nd consecutive victory this season. The Bucs fall to 19-10 overall and 11-3 against the conference.
Chattanooga started out on a 15-0 run that spanned five-and-a-half minutes and included three 3-pointers from senior Ka'Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) who was honored in Senior Day festivities following the game.
The Mocs held the Bucs to just five shot attempts in the run and forced seven turnovers. ETSU wouldn't get its first basket of the game until the 11:45 mark of the first half and cut Chattanooga's lead to 15-7 over the next 1:13.
Chattanooga went on to outscore ETSU 16-6 to close out the frame and led 31-13 at halftime. The Mocs were 50 percent from the field in the first half and 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc.
The Bucs got the first shot of the second half, but Chattanooga put together a 10-4 run, pushing the lead to 41-19 with 13:42 to play. From there the two teams traded baskets for the final 64-42.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) made the most of the Mocs last home game of the season with her sixth double-double of the year scoring 14 points on 7-of-9 from the field and snaring 14 rebounds. Joyner also broke a 26-year-old Southern Conference record for blocked shots in a season with 118, surpassing Marshall's Sharon Deal who had 117 in 1989. Joyner, fifth in the nation, is 10th on the SoCon all-time list and second at UTC.
Towns had 14 points and four rebounds, shooting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and fellow senior Destiny Bramblett (Radcliff, Ky.) had three points, two rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes.
Junior Alicia Payne (Memphis, Tenn.) set career marks with 11 assists and seven steals while committing just two turnovers. The 11 assists is the most by a player in a game since Laura Hall had 11 against Louisville in 2007.
The Mocs held the advantage in the paint 28-22 and outrebounded the Bucs 33-19, allowing just three offensive boards to ETSU while pulling down eight. Chattanooga had 11 second chance points to the Bucs' five and forced 19 miscues for a 21-4 advantage on points of turnovers.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) added nine points for UTC while freshman Keiana Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) and redshirt freshman Ansley Chilton (Trenton, Ga.) added six points each.
ETSU had three players in double figures led by Destiny Mitchell's 13 and four rebounds. Shamauria Bridges added 12 points and a pair of assists while Maria Bond came off the bench for 11 points and two rebounds in 26 minutes.
The Mocs honored seniors Towns and Bramblett along with Kayla Freeman and manager Taylor Rood after the game. Chattanooga also received its Southern Conference regular season trophy after the game. It is the Mocs' 19th regular season title since 1984 and third straight.
Chattanooga earned the No. 1 seed and will take on No. 8 seed UNCG at Noon on Thursday, March 5 at Kimmel Arena on the UNC Asheville campus in the opening game of the Southern Conference Tournament. Follow all the action at GoMocs.com.
