Jasmine Joiner was UTC's high scorer with 13 points, including 3-of-4 free throws.
photo by Tim Evearitt
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team rallied from a seven-point second half deficit to get a 56-49 Southern Conference win over Samford Saturday afternoon at the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford led 18-16 at the half and started the second half on an 8-3 run to get out front 26-19 with 15:53 to play for its largest lead of the game. The two teams traded baskets to make it 28-21 a minute later before Chattanooga went on a 16-4 run after that to take a 37-32 lead with 8:13 to play.
The run started with three straight baskets, cutting Samford's lead to 28-27 at the 11:31 mark of the half and less than two minutes later sophomore Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) got a steal and after dribbling down the court, passed the ball back to senior Ka’Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) who hit a fastbreak layup to give Chattanooga the lead for good with 9:39 on the clock.
Freshman Keiana Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) hit a driving layup and Joyner connected on a pair of free throws to cap the run.
Samford’s Destiney Elliot had back-to-back layups to cut UTC's lead to 37-36, but a 9-2 UTC spurt put the Mocs up 46-38 on a 3-pointer from sophomore Moses Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) with 4:40 remaining.
The Bulldogs cut the lead back to just one point twice more but Towns would put it away making all four of her free throws in the final minute.
Chattanooga edged Samford 28-24 in the paint and 18 points off 14 Bulldog miscues. After shooting 25 percent in the first half, the Mocs were 15-of-23 in the second half making 65.2 percent of their attempts. From the free throw line, UTC was 12-of-14 and outrebounded the Bulldogs 32-26.
Four Chattanooga players scored in double figures led by Joyner’s 13 points. She added a game-high seven rebounds and added six blocked shots to her school record and now sits at 109. Gilbert scored eight of her 12 points in the second half making all four of her attempts in the frame. She was 6-of-9 for the game and had four rebounds.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) was 5-of-6 in the second half making all 11 of her points in the period while Towns had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
Samford’s Elliott and Hannah Nichols had a game-high 15 points each. Taylor Reece, who was 2-of-3 form the 3-point line, had 10 points for the Bulldogs with a team-high five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Samford shot 21.1 percent in the second half and was 18-of-47 (28.3%) for the game. In the first period, half of the Bulldogs’ points were picked up at the free throw line, making 9-of-12. However, in the second half Samford was 0-for-1 from the charity stripe.
Chattanooga’s win streak hit 20 consecutive games this season and its SoCon streak is up to 46 straight games. The Mocs improve to 24-3 overall and 12-0 in league play and will travel to Macon, Ga., to take on third place Mercer Monday night at 7 p.m. Samford falls to 14-13 overall and 7-5 in conference action.
Stats: http://www.gomocs.com/fls/17700/stats/wbasketball/2014/utc0221.htm