In a tale of two halves, the Tennessee at Chattanooga Lady Mocs relied on free throws down the stretch to defeat College of Charleston, 64-53, Monday at the UTC McKenzie Arena before an announced crowd of 1,784.

The Lady Mocs, who led wire-to-wire, shot 45.5% in the first half and led by 18 at intermission, 35-17,while COC shot 26.9% from the field.

UTC increased that plus margin to 21 – 45-24 at 15:10 – on a pair of Ashlen Dewart free throws before the Cougars came to life.

A combination of Mocs turnovers and cold shooting, along with the visitors’ good shooting sparked a 25-6 run for COC to pull within two at 51-49 at 3:35 on a layup by Christy Hewatt. The Cougars were led by six points each from and Alyssa Frye and Cathryn Hardy.

The Mocs steadied themselves with 9-of-12 from the free throw line in the final 2:53 to record their 20th straight win at McKenzie Arena over two seasons and improve to 12-3 overall and 5-1 in Southern Conference play. COC falls to 7-8 overall and 3-3 in the SoCon.

Dewart, who had a game-high 26 points, plus eight boards, pushed the Mocs lead to six (55-49) on two free throws and a basket.

Hardy led COC with 12 points and nine rebounds, while teammate Latisha Harris tossed in 13 points and seven boards, followed by Frye with 11 points, two assists and a steal.

“We came out with lots of energy in the first half (led by nine at 15-6 at 12:19) and played solid early in the second half,” said UTC coach Wes Moore. “But then they slowly turned the tide as they started hitting some shots and we got sloppy with the ball and went cold from the field.”

After UTC’s Taylor Hall hit a jumper to make it 47-28 at 13:28, the home team went more than 11 minutes without a basket until Dewart’s layup at 2:03 gave the Mocs a 55-49 lead.

“Give them credit, they turned up their defense, made some shots and we just didn’t make ours,” said senior Kayla Christopher (16 pts., 6 rbs., 5 assists,3 steals) who was a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final eight minutes, including six straight in the final minute.

“We were able to make some big plays down the stretch and hit our free throws late,” stated Christopher who recorded a pair of first half 3-pointers for a career total of 200.

Solid First Half: After being tied at 2-2 the Mocs went on an 8-0 run for a 10-2 lead capped by Hall’s jumper at 13:55. Hall finished with 16.

The Cougars cut the lead to four, twice in the next five minutes, the last being at 19-15 (8:39). The next time the visitors would be within four (51-47) would be at 4:19 of the second half.

Led by Christopher’s eight points, including her pair of 3-pointers, the Mocs finished the half on a 16-2 run to lead by 18 at 35-17.

Dewart led the Mocs with 10 points in the first 20 minutes, while Hardy led COC with six.

20 Straight Wins in McKenzie: The Lady Mocs have won 20 straight in McKenzie Arena over two seasons … If UTC wins its final six at home this season, it will break the existing McKenzie Arena record of 25 straight wins set from Dec. 4, 2004 through Dec. 30, 2006.

Career 3s:

UTC senior Kayla Christopher made a pair of 3s tonight for 200 in a career... she ranks fourth all-time and needs 17 to move into second place.

1. Brooke Hand (2005-08), 315

2. Katasha Brown (2003-06), 216

3. Jenaya Wade-Fray (2007-10), 214

4. Kayla Christopher (2010-2013), 200

Double Figure Scoring: UTC's Ashlen Dewart has scored in double figures 13 times (20 more, 7 times) this season with a high of 29 against Wofford ... tonight's output (26) is her second best.

CHATTANOOGA 64, CHARLESTON 53

CHARLESTON (7-8, 3-3 SoCon)
HARRIS, Latisha 5-9 3-4 13; HARDY, Cathryn 3-9 6-8 12; FRYE, Alyssa 4-17 0-0
11; BROWN, Jillian 3-9 1-2 7; HOPKINS, Mikaela 2-2 0-0 4; GREEN, Jazz 1-2
0-0 2; HEWATT, Christy 1-2 0-0 2; TOLBERT, Afreyea 1-5 0-2 2; FISCHER, Megan
0-3 0-0 0; HINES, Shannon 0-0 0-0 0; MCKENZIE, Courtney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
20-58 10-16 53.

CHATTANOOGA (12-3, 5-1 SoCon)
DEWART, Ashlen 9-19 8-12 26; CHRISTOPHER, Kayla 3-7 8-8 16; HALL, Taylor
6-13 0-0 12; BLACK, Alex 2-5 0-0 4; TOWNS, Ka'Vonne 1-3 0-0 3; BRAMBLETT,
Destiny 1-1 0-0 2; LAMBERT, Kylie 0-1 1-2 1; JACKSON, Tatianna 0-3 0-0 0;
FREEMAN, Kayla 0-1 0-0 0; DOWNES, Meghan 0-2 0-1 0; PAYNE, Alicia 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals 22-57 17-23 64.
Charleston....................   17   36  -   53
Chattanooga...................   35   29  -   64
3-point goals--Charleston 3-17 (FRYE, Alyssa 3-9; HARDY, Cathryn 0-3; GREEN,
Jazz 0-1; HEWATT, Christy 0-1; TOLBERT, Afreyea 0-1; FISCHER, Megan 0-2),
Chattanooga 3-12 (CHRISTOPHER, Kayla 2-4; TOWNS, Ka'Vonne 1-2; BLACK, Alex
0-1; DOWNES, Meghan 0-1; PAYNE, Alicia 0-1; HALL, Taylor 0-3). Fouled
out--Charleston-HARRIS, Latisha; HARDY, Cathryn, Chattanooga-None.
Rebounds--Charleston 37 (HARDY, Cathryn 9), Chattanooga 42 (LAMBERT, Kylie
10). Assists--Charleston 10 (BROWN, Jillian 6), Chattanooga 15 (CHRISTOPHER,
Kayla 5). Total fouls--Charleston 23, Chattanooga 12. Technical
fouls--Charleston-None, Chattanooga-TEAM. A-1784

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net

Taylor Hall launches a three-point shot.
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt