CHARLOTTE, NC – A change in venue for the Southern Conference tournament had no effect on the Lady Mocs in semi-final action on Sunday afternoon. The move from Bojangles Coliseum to Time Warner Arena, home of the NBA Bobcats, showed no ill effects as Chattanooga defeated Georgia State 60 to 49.
The win catapults UTC into the finals, set for Monday evening at 5 p.m. They will play second seed Samford. The final on Monday night will be televised on SportSouth.
This will be Chattanooga’s 13th appearance in the championship game.
They are currently 12 – 0 title games and 40-14 in overall tournament action. The Lady Mocs are making their first appearance in the trophy game since 2008. The winner will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Chattanooga let the Lady Eagles get out to a quick lead off the opening tip as Georgia State capitalized off the play of senior forward J’Lisia Ogburn. Ogburn hit for the first points of the game, a lay-up in the paint and then contributed two more points plus an assist.
Georgia Southern was out to a four point lead before UTC’s Michelle Davis came off the bench to nail a three-pointer at the 17:38 mark. The Lady Eagles went on to score six more points before Davis knocked down another trey at the 15:31 point of the first half.
Following a couple of Kayla Christopher free throws, Wade-Fray and Christopher added long ball threes for the Lady Mocs. Another three pointer and the Mocs were ahead 17-12and would never trail again. Georgia Southern came within four points twice in the second half but push that barrier.
The Lady Mocs opened up an outside game to go along with another good game in the paint. They were 9 of 18 shooting from distance while being 21 of 53 overall. Chattanooga’s bench outscored the Lady Eagle reserves by 18-16.
In the post-game interview Chattanooga coach Wes Moore iterated how well Michelle Davis stepped up. Davis finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Along Davis, Moore praised the play of senior conference two-time Player of the Year Shanara Hollinquest. Moore said, “One on one, Shanara is pretty hard to stop.”
Hollinquest herself added, “When they go one on one with me, it’s attack time.”
This is Davis’ first tournament and, as she said, “This is my first one, I assume we haven’t done anything wrong. I guess we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
Meg Rollins injured her hand early on in the contest, around the 18:26 mark of the first half. Coach Moore said, “We were hoping it was just dislocated, but it looks like there’s a fracture in there.” Medical sources informed that it was a fracture of the index finger at the MCP joint.
Coach Moore continued, “She is a leader and a steadying force on the floor. This is not good.”
He then spoke of senior Jenaya Wade-Fray. “I was proud of Jenaya in the second half. She had a rough time in the first half but bounced back and showed some maturity. I don’t think a freshman could have done that,” Moore said.
As to tomorrow’s opponent, Moore supplied, “Either one is scary. Mike Moore has done a good job at Samford with their Princeton offense. Every time you play them it’s like going to a clinic.”
“Darcie has done an excellent job in a tough situation at Appalachian State. Both of these teams are dangerous.”
Along with Davis, Hollinquest led all players with 17 while nabbing 8 rebounds. Wade-Fray struck a double-double for the fifth time this year, scoring 13 points and ripping down 11 rebounds. Also in double figures was freshman Kayla Christopher with 10.
For Georgia Southern J’Lisia Ogburn had 13 and Meredyth Frye scored 11.
The Lady Mocs out-boarded the Lady Eagles 41 to 31. Chattanooga gave the ball up five more times than Georgia Southern with 17 turnovers to 12.
Statistically Speaking…
Score by Half:
ASU 23 26 49
UTC 34 26 60
Individual Scoring
ASU (49) – Whitney 9; Navarro 2; Tate 7; Ogburn 13; Geiger 2; Ivy 2; Youngblood; Smith; Frye 11; Scott; Williams 3.
UTC (60) – Christopher 10; Townsend 2; Wade-Fray 13; Rollins; Hollinquest 17; Penland; Lambert 4; Smith; Helton; Davis 14.
Team:
ASU
FG%: 1st half: 10-23 43.5% 2nd half: 8-28 28.6% Game: 18-51 35.3%
3PT%: 1st half: 0-50.0% 2nd half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 3-14 21.4%
FT%: 1st half: 3-4 75% 2nd half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 10-14 71.4%
Rebounds: Off: 8 Def: 23 Game: 31
Fouls: 16
UTC
FG%: 1st half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd half: 10-25 40% Game: 21-53 39.6%
3PT%: 1st half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 9-18 50.0%
FT%: 1st half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd half: 3-6 50% Game: 9-13 69.2%
Rebounds: Off: 13 Def: 28 Total: 41
Fouls: 13
(You can email Dennis Norwood at sportswriter56@comcast.net)