BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team outscored Samford in the second half but couldn’t overcome an 11-point halftime deficit and fell 58-48 to the Bulldogs at the Pete Hanna Center Wednesday night.
Senior Whitney Hood (Meridian, Miss.) scored 11 of her team-high 16 points in the second half and went 6-of-13 with a 3-pointer and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Sophomore Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) had eight points for the Lady Mocs while junior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) had seven points and a game-high eight rebounds.
After trailing 41-25 at the 16:57 mark of the second half, the Lady Mocs went on an 18-6 run bookended by Hood who had nine in the run, to cut the Bulldogs lead to 47-43 with 5:50 to play. However, Samford’s Paige Anderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and hold Chattanooga to just five points to finish out the game.
The loss drops Chattanooga to 19-8 on the year and 14-4 in Southern Conference play with two games remaining. The Lady Mocs are in third in the league standings trailing both Appalachian State and Davidson who are 16-2 with both Samford and UTC to play.
Samford started the game getting out to a 17-5 lead with 13:00 to play in the first half and built its lead to as much as 13 in the half with the Lady Mocs getting only as close as five in the stanza.
The Bulldogs hit a couple of shots early to take a 4-0 lead and Chattanooga was 0-for-3 before Hood was fouled on a layup and converted the 3-point play to cut the lead to one. Samford then outscored UTC 13-2 to push the lead to 17-5. The Lady Mocs fought back and an 11-4 scoring advantage put UTC to within five at 21-16 with 7:20 to go in the half.
Samford, behind the scoring of four players, closed out the half with 13 points to Chattanooga’s seven and led 34-23 at the half.
Chattanooga edged the Bulldogs 25-24 in the second half and had a 14-10 scoring advantage in the paint. UTC had eight points off 14 Samford turnovers and had 11 second chance points off 13 offensive rebounds. The Lady Mocs outrebounded Samford 40-32. The Bulldogs were 23-of-51 on the night (45.1%) and went 9-of-23 from the 3-point line.
The Lady Mocs return home to close out the season with a pair of home games. Saturday’s contest will tip off at 5 p.m. against Davidson. Prior to the game, the Lady Mocs and Head Coach Wes Moore will honor their four seniors. It is also a “Play4Kay” game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink in recognition of the fight against breast cancer. Kay Yow was the head coach at NC State and died of breast cancer. Moore served two years as her assistant.
Larry Ward, the “Voice of the Lady Mocs” will have the call live on ESPN 105.1 FM “The Zone”. If you can’t make it to the game, follow the action at MocsVision on GoMocs.com.