STATESBORO, Ga. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C.) matched her double-double from Saturday to lead the Lady Mocs to a 67-50 win over Georgia Southern Monday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Dewart scored 20 second-half points for the second straight game for a 24 point, 13 rebound effort against the Eagles and recorded her sixth double-double of the year. She was 9-of-14 for the game from the field and shot 70 percent (7-of-10) in the second half with three 3-point plays in the latter stanza.
Chattanooga improves to 23-3 overall and 16-1 in SoCon play while the Eagles fall to 5-20 on the year and 4-12 against the league. Chattanooga runs its win streak to 13 games, tied for fifth best in school history. Chattanooga’s longest win streak was a 27-game stretch in the 2003-04 season.
The Eagles started the game getting out front by a 7-4 margin with scoring from three different players. Junior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) drained a 3-pointer to tie it up at 7-7 at the 16 minute mark of the first. After a basket by each team saw the third tie of the game at 9-9, freshman Alicia Payne (Memphis, Tenn.) hit a jumper in the lane and Chattanooga would not trail again.
However, Georgia Southern would not go away, keeping Chattanooga’s lead no more than four points over the next seven minutes, getting as close as one point three times and tying the game at 24-24 on a layup by Anna Claire Knight with 5:01 to play.
Junior Meghan Downes (Newnan, Ga.) gave the Lady Mocs the lead for good on a 3-pointer from the right side with 3:33 to play until half and capped off the 10-0 run with a short jumper and Chattanooga led 34-24 at intermission.
In the second half, Georgia Southern cut Chattanooga’s lead down to 39-33 on a layup from Knight who was one of three GSU players in double figures with 10 points.
The Lady Mocs scored the next nine led by an old-fashioned 3-point play from Dewart and capped with a pair of free throws from freshman Tatianna Jackson (Atlanta, Ga.) who had six points and a game-high four assists, to give UTC a 48-33 lead with 12:24 to play.
After Georgia Southern’s Maggie Davis drained a 3-pointer with 12:10 on the clock, the Lady Mocs held the Eagles without a field goal for more than 10 minutes with GSU scoring 10 points from the free throw line during the drought.
Senior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) had nine points in the game and improved her career 3-point total to 218. Payne was 3-of-4 from the field and 1-of-1 from the 3-point line for a season-best eight points. Downes had a pair of 3-pointers and put up eight points in the win while Chattanooga’s balanced attacked continued with seven points from Black who added two assists and two steals.
Georgia Southern was led by Meredyth Frye and MiMi DuBose with 12 points apiece. Knight had nine a team-high nine rebounds.
Chattanooga outscored the Eagles 30-16 in the paint and 22-9 off the bench. The Lady Mocs’ reserves have outscored its opponents 161-52 over the last seven games. Chattanooga forced 21 Eagle turnovers and capitalized with a 25-4 advantage while outscoring GSU 23-4 on second chance points with 19 offensive boards. The Lady Mocs outrebounded Georgia Southern 37-31 after trailing that category 17-12 at the break.
UTC shot 42.4 percent (25-59) for the game and had just five 3-pointers, missing all 11 attempts in the second half. After going 1-of-4 from the free throw line in the first half, Chattanooga was 11-of-14 in the latter period. Georgia Southern shot 37 percent (17-of-46) for the game and was 6-of-18 from beyond the arc while making 10-of-11 free throws, all in the second half.
The Lady Mocs return to the McKenzie Arena Saturday to host Western Carolina. The game is set to tip off at 5 p.m. as the first game of a double-header with the men’s team. Wear PINK to show your support for the fight against breast cancer as Chattanooga participates in the “Play4Kay” campaign. The Lady Mocs will also honor seniors Kayla Christopher and Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) as they play their final home games at McKenzie Arena next weekend.