The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team returns to the McKenzie Arena for just its third home game of January to host the defending Southern Conference co-champion Appalachian State. The Lady Mocs (15-3, 8-1 SoCon), sitting alone in first place in the league standings, will host the Mountaineers who boast a 12-3 overall mark and are 6-1 in the conference standings.
The Lady Mocs started the season with a rousing upset of No.
20 Tennessee in the McKenzie Arena to extend its Roundhouse win streak to 14 games. With six more wins at home, the win streak is now at 20 games.
In league play, the Lady Mocs are 8-1 with wins over Western Carolina, UNCG, Samford and defending SoCon co-champion Davidson on the road while posting home wins against Georgia Southern, College of Charleston, Furman and Wofford. Chattanooga’s lone loss was an overtime fall at Elon earlier this month.
Chattanooga is second in the SoCon in scoring (69.6) behind league leader Appalachian State and second in scoring defense, allowing just 55.2 points per game for a scoring margin of 14.3 points per game, second in the SoCon. From the field, UTC is shooting 41.9 percent and 31.5 percent from the 3-point arc and second in 3-pointers made with 6.7 per game. At the charity stripe, UTC ranks ninth in the league making just 64.7 percent. On the boards, the Lady Mocs are third in the league with 40.1 rebounds per game after averaging 31.6 over the last three games while allowing just 37.4 to its opponents. Defensively, the Lady Mocs are averaging 10.3 steals and 2.4 blocked shots per game. UTC ranks first in the league in turnover margin making just 14.3 per game while forcing 19.6 for a margin of +5.22 while boasting a league-best 1.1 assist-turnover ratio (15.1-14.3).
Junior Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C.) leads the league in field goal shooting percentage making 51.5 percent of her shots and is third on the scoring list with 15.9 points per game. She is second on the team in rebounding with 6.1 per game of which 3.9 are on the defensive end. Senior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) is second on the team in scoring and 12th in the SoCon with 12.4 points per game and fifth in field goal percentage making 47.3 percent of her shots. She is second in the SoCon from beyond the arc making 43.2 percent of her shots and third for made 3-pointers with 2.1 per game. She has a team-high 2.9 assists per game. Junior Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) is third on the team in scoring with 9.2 points per game and rebounding with 5.5 per game. Senior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) leads the Lady Mocs in rebounding and is 11th in the SoCon with 6.3 per game and 10th with 2.5 offensive boards.
The defending SoCon co-champion Mountaineers are 6-1 in Southern Conference play this season and 12-3 overall. ASU started the season winning seven of eight games that included a three-point loss at Virginia Tech and are on a current five-game win streak. The Mountaineers fell 72-67 at West Virginia and dropped a 65-49 decision to Davidson, last season’s co-champion, in their second league game this season.
Appalachian State leads the SoCon in scoring offense with 72.8 points per game and has a league-best scoring margin of 14.6 points per game while giving up 58.2 to its opponents. From the field, the Mountaineers are shooting a SoCon-best 43.8 percent and are third from beyond the arc making 32.1 percent of their attempts. At the free throw line, ASU is shooting 80.5 percent from the free throw line as well. ASU is second in the league in rebounding with 40.5 per game, second in rebounding defense allowing 36.1 and has a SoCon-high 4.4 rebounding margin. The Mountaineers are also atop the league standings for assists (17.5) and steals (12.6) and ranked fourth for blocked shots with 3.7 per game. ASU is second in turnover margin (20.3-23.5) with a 3.2 turnover advantage and second for assist-turnover ratio with 17.5 assists per game compared to 20.3 turnovers per game.
Anna Freeman leads the Southern Conference in scoring with 17.7 points per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and has a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game. She also leads the team with 3.9 assists per game and averages 89.9 percent from the free throw line. From beyond the arc, she is averaging 1.4 treys per game, has a league-best 3.1 steals and is third for blocked shots with 1.9 per game. Maryah Sydnor is fourth in the SoCon on the scoring charts with 14.9 ppg and Courtney Freeman is sixth in the league with 14.3 points per game. Sydnor is 10th in the SoCon for rebounding with 6.7 per game and Courtney Freeman is 14th with 6.0 per game while Kelsey Sharkey is pulling down 5.4 per game. Courtney Freeman is second in the league in field goal shooting averaging .482/game and Sydnor is third making 47.7 percent. Sydnor leads the league at the free throw line making 92.5 percent (49-of-53) and Sharkey is sixth in the league with 2.1 steals per game.