Chattanooga’s Lady Mocs maintained their perfect record in the SoCon championship game here in Time Warner Arena Monday night by virtue of a hard-fought come from behind 72-67 win over the Samford Bulldogs.

Chattanooga is now 13-0 in the title game.

Senior Shanara Hollinquest closed out her Southern Conference career with 22 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Hollinquest was named as Most Outstanding Player for the tournament and was joined by true freshman Kayla Christopher on the All Tournament first team. Christopher ended the game with 11 points.

Earning second team honors were Jenaya Wade-Fray and Michelle Davis. Wade-Fray tossed in 11 points while grabbing nine boards in her SoCon swan song, while Davis, in a starting role, accounted for 16 points.

Samford placed three players on the first team, Monica Maxwell, Emily London and Savannah Hill. Hill led all scorers with 26 points and London and Maxwell were good for 12 and 10 respectfully.

This was Samford’s first trip ever to a conference championship game.

After surging to a first half lead, the Lady Mocs suddenly found themselves trailing Samford and having to scramble to get back control of their destiny. With Megan Rollins on the bench with a broken finger, Coach Wes Moore was forced to use his most powerful weapon off the bench as a starter.

Davis, a freshman, performed well except for a period was lacking. Coach Moore said in the post-game interview that, “To be honest I was really disappointed in Michelle’s play on defense. I had pulled her out and she spent quite a few moments on the bench.”

“To be honest I thought Erin (Helton) was playing a bit better but down the stretch we couldn’t get past that three point deficit. It seemed like it stayed there forever,” Moore said. “I told the other coaches that we had to get Michelle back in the game, that maybe she could hit a three and push us past.”

At the 3:04 mark in the second half, she did just that. After a defensive rebound by Hollinquest, Davis knocked down a three putting the Lady Mocs ahead, 56-54.

Other than a tie at 56-56 with 2:44 to go off a lay-up by Samford’s Savannah Hill, Chattanooga never trailed again. Hollinquest put the final nails in the Bulldogs with four free throws, the last with :06 left on the game clock.

While the Lady Mocs made six more turnovers than Samford, Chattanooga capitalized by scoring four points off Bulldog bobbles down the stretch.

The Lady Mocs improved their shooting by 41.7% to 50.0% from first half to the final twenty minutes.

The first half was mostly all Lady Mocs until about the seven minute mark when Samford began a run before finally taking the lead 30-27 at just under four minutes on a Maxwell three-pointer. They came back a minute later off a Hannah Dawson steal leading to a Paige Anderson trey.

Kylie Lambert sank a three for Chattanooga, but Maxwell came back with her own long distance bomb to push the score to 38-30 with 1:12 to go in the initial half. That’s the score they took into the locker room with them.

Early on in the second half, Chattanooga began pressing back towards the lead. With Wade-Fray, Hollinquest and Helton providing the offense and defense and Samford suddenly cold on offense, Chattanooga began methodically closing the gap.

The Lady Mocs pulled within one at 6:11 and again at 4:17 on a lay-up by Hollinquest before Davis’ 3-pointer sealed the door on the Bulldogs.

Following the game, UTC Chancellor Roger Brown was especially proud of the team as he beamed during the net cutting ceremony before being invited up the ladder himself to cut loose a cord.

Brown said of Coach Moore, “We are extremely fortunate to have Wes as our coach. Not only for his basketball ability but for the way he follows these girls while they are part of our program and after they leave school and the concern he shows for them. That means a lot to me.”

Christopher, experiencing her first post-season tournament, said, “This is tournament time. You just have to step up and get the job done.”

Chattanooga played four freshmen this year due to injuries, injuries that kept at least two starters on the bench for the entire season. Those freshmen are Christopher, Davis, Helton and Kylie Lambert.

According to Coach Moore, “Each one of those freshmen won a game for us at some point in the year.”

Asked about preferences or ideas where Chattanooga would fall in the seeding for the NCAA ‘Big Dance’, Moore replied, “We lost some games by some pretty bad margins this year and definitely affects your RPI, so I’m sure the committee will take a look at that.”

The NCAA Women’s Tournament will announce their selections and seeds on Monday night. According to university sources plans at this point are for the Lady Mocs to be at Big River Grill that night to celebrate with fans and find out where they will play the following Monday.

Statistically speaking…

Score by half:
Samford 38 29 67
Chattanooga 30 42 72

Individual Scoring:

Samford (67) Dawson 7; Hill 26; Wilderotter 3; Maxwell 10; London 12; Babineaux 2; Anderson 7; Crow.
Chattanooga (72) Davis 16; Hollinquest 22; Christopher 11; Townsend 6; Wade-Fray 11; Lambert; Helton 6.

Team:
Samford
FG% 1st half: 16-29 55.2% 2nd half: 11-28 39.3 Game: 27-57 47.4%
3PT% 1st Half: 6-13 46.2% 2nd half: 2-12 16.7% Game: 8-25 32.0%
FT% 1st half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 5-8 62.5%
Rebounds: Off: 3 Def: 23 Total: 26
Fouls: 20

Chattanooga
FG% 1st half: 10-24 41.7% 2nd half: 11-22 50.0% Game: 21-46 45.7%
3PT% 1st half: 6-15 40.0% 2nd half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 10-26 38.5%
FT% 1st half: 4-4 100.0% 2nd half: 16-19 84.2% Game: 20-23 87.0%
Rebounds: Off: 4 Def: 29 Total: 33
Fouls: 13

(You can email Dennis Norwood at sportswriter56@comcast.net)
Score By Periods

Samford 38 29 67
Chattanooga 30 42 72

2010 Southern Conference All-Tournament First Team
Kayla Christopher, Chattanooga
Shanara Hollinquest, Chattanooga
Savannah Hill, Samford
Emily London, Samford
Monica Maxwell, Samford

2010 Southern Conference All-Tournament Second Team
Anna Freeman, Appalachian State
Chakeitha Weldon, Appalachian State
Michelle Davis, Chattanooga
Jenaya Wade-Fray, Chattanooga
Lakiah Hyson, UNC Greensboro

2010 Southern Conference Championship Most Outstanding
Shanara Hollinquest, Chattanooga