UTC Lady Mocs Top Elon, 63-40

The Chattanooga Lady Mocs basketball team needed a spark Saturday night to gain its 20th win of the season and found it on the bench.

Led by freshman reserveTatianna Jackson's 14 points, the Chattanooga Lady Mocs rallied for a 63-40 win Saturday against Elon College at McKenzie Arena.

With UTC trailing 14-5 at 11:52, the 5-10 guard from Atlanta came off the bench and contributed with nine points, two rebounds, one assist and a steal as the Lady Mocs made a 20-4 run to intermission and led 25-18.

"We needed a spark and Tatianna definitely gave us a great lift off the bench," said UTC coach Wes Moore.

The win improves Chattanooga's record to 20-3 overall, 13-1 in the SoCon (first place) and the12th, 20-win season in the Coach Moore Era and the first since a 24-9 mark in 2009-10.

Elon falls to 12-10 overall and 9-4 in the SoCon.

Joining Jackson off the bench in the first half were Ka'vonne Towns (2 pts, 5 rebs, 1 assist, 1 steal), and Alicia Payne (2 pts., 2 rebs, 2 assists, 2 steals.

"We started the game with good energy and had good looks, but for whatever reason our shots were not falling early on," coach Moore stated.

"Our bench play was very good,"  as he noted the UTC reserves outscored Elon's extras 14-5. 

Second Half: UTC quickly extended the seven-point halftime lead to 16 in the first five minutes of the second half (38-22 at 15:02) as Ashlen Dewart scored on a pair of layups and Taylor Hall had three charity tosses.

Ten minutes later the Mocs offense had the advantage to 20 at 57-37 at 5:04 on a Dewar layup and he junior forward capped the night's scoring with a free throw at 1:58 for the 63-40 lead.

Joining Jackson in double figure scoring for UTC were Dewart (12 pts., 8 rebs.) and Faith Dupree (11 pts.)

Elon's Kelsey Evans had a game-high 19 points, plus eight rebounds. Kelsey Harris added eight points and three rebounds.

23 Straight at Home: The Lady Mocs have won 23 straight game at home over two seasons ... the school record is 25 ... the Mocs can break the record this season by winning the final three home games.

Next Game: Mon. Feb. 11  doubleheader  Lady Mocs vs. UNCG at 5:30 p.m. ... the UTC men host Samford at 7:30 p.m.

 

At Chattanooga, Tenn. (The McKenzie Arena)
CHATTANOOGA 63, ELON 40
ELON (12-10, 9-4 SoCon)
EVANS, Kelsey 7-9 5-6 19; HARRIS, Kelsey 4-9 0-4 8; FORD, Ali 1-8 3-4 5;
REDMOND, Shon 1-5 2-2 4; FARMER, Jessica 1-5 0-0 2; CARTER, Autumn 1-4 0-0
2; COFFER, Sam 0-4 0-0 0; COCHRAHAM, Shannen 0-2 0-2 0; RAZOR, Nicole 0-1
0-0 0; HUDSON, Lauren 0-1 0-0 0; STEPHENSON, Zora 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 15-53
10-18 40.

CHATTANOOGA (20-3, 13-1 SoCon)
JACKSON, Tatianna 6-8 0-0 14; DEWART, Ashlen 5-12 2-4 12; DUPREE, Faith 4-6
2-2 11; HALL, Taylor 2-9 4-6 8; BLACK, Alex 3-7 0-0 6; CHRISTOPHER, Kayla
1-7 2-2 4; PAYNE, Alicia 1-2 0-0 2; DOWNES, Meghan 1-4 0-0 2; TOWNS,
Ka'Vonne 1-3 0-3 2; LAMBERT, Kylie 1-3 0-0 2; FREEMAN, Kayla 0-1 0-0 0;
BRAMBLETT, Destiny 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 10-17 63.
Elon..........................   18   22  -   40
Chattanooga...................   25   38  -   63
3-point goals--Elon 0-12 (; FORD, Ali 0-7; REDMOND, Shon 0-1; COFFER, Sam
0-1; HUDSON, Lauren 0-1; STEPHENSON, Zora 0-2), Chattanooga 3-16 (JACKSON,
Tatianna 2-2; DUPREE, Faith 1-1; HALL, Taylor 0-4; BLACK, Alex 0-3;
CHRISTOPHER, Kayla 0-3; DOWNES, Meghan 0-1; TOWNS, Ka'Vonne 0-1; BRAMBLETT,
Destiny 0-1). Fouled out--Elon-None, Chattanooga-None. Rebounds--Elon 36
(EVANS, Kelsey 8), Chattanooga 46 (HALL, Taylor 9). Assists--Elon 11 (FORD,
Ali 5), Chattanooga 19 (CHRISTOPHER, Kayla 6). Total fouls--Elon 13,
Chattanooga 12. Technical fouls--Elon-None, Chattanooga-None. A-2449
Tonight's Attendance is the 21st Largest in Lady Mocs History!

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