Sophomore Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) and senior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) combined for 36 points to lead the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to a 67-52 win over Georgia Southern at the McKenzie Arena Monday night in Southern Conference women’s basketball action.
Chattanooga is now 18-7 overall and 13-3 in league play while the Eagles fall to 7-18 on the year and 3-13 in the SoCon.
Post game quotes: http://www.gomocs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17700&ATCLID=205378902
Hall, with her fifth double-double of the year, poured in a career-high 19 points and matched her career-best for rebounds with 15. She was 7-of-14 from the field and had a pair of 3-pointers while pulling in five offensive boards. Hood was 7-of-16 from the floor and scored 17 points, knocking down her first 3-pointer at Chattanooga, second of her career.
After the two teams traded baskets with four lead changes to start the game, Hall sparked a 10-2 run with a short jumper from the right on an assist from Hood with 17:36 to play in the first. She capped off the scoring drive with the first of her two 3-pointers three-and-a-half minutes later to make it 14-7.
After Hood’s 3-pointer, a fastbreak layup from freshman Ka’Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) gave the Lady Mocs a 22-12 lead with 9:40 to play until the half. However, Georgia Southern’s Claire Knight dropped in a 3-pointer and back-to-back layups off offensive rebounds by Aishya Wofford cut that lead to 22-19 less than two minutes later.
Chattanooga battled back and held the Eagles scoreless over the final 5:13 of the first half and led 35-22 at the break.
The Lady Mocs opened the second half with a 15-4 scoring advantage to take a 50-26 lead midway through the stanza. The Eagles could not be held off as they went on a 22-7 scoring run to cut Chattanooga’s lead back to single digits at 57-48 with 3:38 to play. UTC went on to outscore Georgia Southern 8-5 over the final minutes for the 13 point win.
Chattanooga and Georgia Southern were nearly evenly matched in the paint with UTC edging the Eagles 28-26. The Lady Mocs outrebounded GSU 42-15, but the Eagles made better work of their offensive rebounds outdueling Chattanooga 14-11 on second chance points. UTC had just nine turnovers, one more than the season-low and scored 12 points off 12 Georgia Southern miscues. The Eagles bench was productive with 22 points to Chattanooga’s 13.
Junior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) went 2-of-5 from the 3-point line and tied Jan Cameron (1991-94) for fifth on Chattanooga’s all-time list with 161. Hood has topped the 900-point mark at Chattanooga with 908 points in just two years with the Lady Mocs.
Stats: http://www.gomocs.com/fls/17700/stats/wbasketball/2011/utc0213.htm
UTC will travel to Cullowhee, N.C., this weekend to take on Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Larry Ward, the “Voice of the Lady Mocs” will have the call live on ESPN 105.1 FM “The Zone”. Live stats will be available at GoMocs.com.
Whitney Hood
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt