The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team outscored Elon 25-1 over the final 9:05 of the game to come away with a 66-43 Southern Conference win over the Phoenix Monday night at Alumni Gym. Chattanooga improves to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in league play while Elon dops to 3-6 on the year and 1-1 in SoCon action.
With 12:35 to play in the game, Sam Coffer drained Elon’s second 3-pointer of the game to give the Phoenix a 40-37 lead. Elon went 0-for-13 from the field for the remainder of the game and committed eight turnovers in that time.
At the 11:56 mark, UTC sophomore Alicia Payne (Memphis, Tenn.) was fouled as she drove to the basket and converted a 3-point play and tied the game 40-40. Elon went 2-of-4 from the free throw line over the next 1:51 and Chattanooga was 1-of-2 over that time to make it a 42-41 advantage for Elon with 9:05 to play. It would be the last lead for the Phoenix.
Payne made her first free throw to tie the game 42-42 with 8:55 to play, but missed her second. Junior Ka’Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) grabbed the rebound and put it back up for a 44-42 lead. Chattanooga went on to score 22 more points and allowed Elon just one free throw for the double-digit win.
After Chattanooga held a 21-14 lead midway through the first half, Elon came back and the two teams traded the lead three times before Chattanooga knotted the game 30-30 on a layup from senior Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) at halftime.
The second half started the same way with the lead trading back-and-forth three times and three more ties before Chattanooga pulled away.
Senior Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C.) went 13-of-16 from the field and 2-of-2 from the 3-point line. She had a game-high 29 points to go along with 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the year. She added in three assists in 33 minutes on the floor.
Hall recorded her sixth straight double-double, seventh of the year, with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. She had three assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Payne was 3-of-3 from the field and had eight points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
After starting the game shooting nearly 73 percent on an 8-of-11 effort, Chattanooga went 1-for-8 from the field and shot just 37.1 percent (13-35) in the first half. In the second half, UTC went 15-of-31 (48.4%) and shot 42.4 percent for the game. Chattanooga was 3-of-11 from the 3-point line and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
UTC outscored Elon 38-20 in the paint and 20-10 off turnovers and got 17 points from the bench compared to seven for the Phoenix.
Chattanooga continues its eight-game road swing with a trip to Austin Peay on Wednesday, December 12 in Clarksville, Tenn. The game is set to tip off at 8 p.m. Eastern time.