Taylor Hall drives to the bucket.
photo by Tim Evearitt
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) matched her career-high to lead UTC to a 64-48 Southern Conference win over Wofford Monday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The Mocs improve to 23-3 overall and 15-0 in league play while the Terriers fall to 5-19 on the year and 3-11 against the conference. The win was UTC’s 11th straight on the road, second best in the nation.
After sitting the bench for 16 minutes of the first half with two fouls, Hall more than made up for the lost time with a strong second half scoring 23 of her career-high 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds. She scored the first 11 points of the latter period, pushing UTC’s lead from 27-25 at halftime to 38-30 with 13:43 to play.
Senior Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C.), with a season-high 12 rebounds, paired with sophomore Tatianna Jackson (Atlanta, Ga.) to score the next five. Hall drained a pair of 3-pointers for Chattanooga’s next six points, and UTC had its largest lead of the game to that point at 49-36 and would go on to get the 64-48 victory.
Wofford’s Jordan Frazier, wearing a mask to shield a broken nose, was the Terrier’s “Girl Friday” in the first half with 13 points on 5-of-14 from the field with one 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to go along with three steals. Chattanooga was able to contain her the second half as she made just 1-of-6, a trey, and was 1-of-2 from the free throw line. She did, however, manage another two steals for a game-high five on the night and led Wofford with 17 points.
Wofford led four times to in the first 4:19 of the game before UTC went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-8 lead with 13:50 to go until halftime. The Terriers wouldn’t be kept down and battled back to get out front before intermission. With 7:51 on the clock, Ashton Fleming drained a 3-pointer to cut UTC’s lead to 17-14, sparking a 9-2 run. She hit both free throws 3:31 later to cap off the run and give Wofford a 20-19 advantage.
UTC outscored the Terriers 8-5 in the final stretch and retook the lead to lead 27-25 at the break.
Wofford started the second half with a 3-pointer from Lauren Kirby to take its final lead of the game 28-27 just 10 seconds into the period. Hall would go on to outscore the Terriers 11-2 and Chattanooga secured its 31st consecutive Southern Conference victory. Chattanooga has won 19 straight regular season games, fourth longest active streak in the nation.
The Mocs edged Wofford 30-24 in the paint and had 21 points off 16 turnovers by the Terriers compared to six Wofford points on nine UTC miscues. Chattanooga had just six offensive rebounds, but made the most of each one with 11 points. Wofford edged UTC on the boards 37-26 while UTC’s bench outscored the Terriers 14-4.
Senior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) was 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final minutes of play and had 10 points and four rebounds in 36 minutes. Freshman Aryanna Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) had five points and a team-best four steals. Dewart had six points and a game-high 12 rebounds along with two assists.
Wofford’s Chanel Stokes was 3-of-5 on the night with a pair of free throws for eight points while Kirby and Fleming each had seven points and seven rebounds.
Chattanooga was 23-of-51 for the game and made 3-of-12 from beyond the arc while hitting 15-of-22 free throws. Wofford was 17-of-56 for the game and 4-of-14 from the 3-point line. In the first half, the Terriers were 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and just 3-of-5 in the second period.
Chattanooga will return to action next Monday at Samford in the final road game of the season. The game is set to tip at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.