UTC Defeats UNCG, 72-61, Behind Alford, Joyner

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Queen Alford (Decatur, Ga.) matched her career-high and led four players in double figures in the Mocs 72-61 win over UNCG in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena in front of 2,871 fans.

Chattanooga improves to 13-5 overall and 4-0 in league play while the Spartans fall to 8-11 on the year and remain winless against the conference at 0-4.

Alford was 10-of-11 from the free throw line, making nine of her attempts in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mocs to the win. She was 5-of-9 from the field and added four rebounds. Junior Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) tallied her fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and 14 rebounds. She added four assists, two blocked shots and two steals while playing all 40 minutes.

Also in double digits was sophomore Aryanna Gilbert (Pulaski, Tenn.) with 14 points and five rebounds. She tallied three assists and game-high four blocked shots. Sophomore Keiana Gilbert (Pulaski, Tenn.) had 12 points with three assists, four rebounds and two blocks.

Chattanooga got out to a 22-10 lead in the first quarter and led by as much as 16 points in the second frame. Aryanna Gilbert forced a turnover and picked up the ball, sending it to Joyner on a fast break to make it 28-12 with 6:58 to go in the half.

The Spartans, however, made a charge, outscoring Chattanooga 11-3 over the final 6:38 of the second period and cut the Mocs’ lead to 31-23 at the break.

UNCG poured it on the third quarter, and took a 42-41 lead on a jumper from Lucy Mason that capped off a 9-0 run with 2:43 to go in the period. The lead bounced back-and-forth the rest of the frame with the Mocs getting out front three times before the Spartans ended the quarter with a layup from Mason to make it 48-47 UNCG at the end of 30 minutes.

“I think sometimes because you have a degree of success, the expectation is for you to dominate these things,” Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster said. “The news is that this league is tired of our success and they are going to play hard every time they play us.

“Basketball is a game of runs, expecially now since we’ve gone to quarters.”

Alford connected on one-of-two free throws to tie the game at 48-48 with 9:25 on the clock. Joyner’s layup 21 seconds later gave the Mocs a narrow advantage, but the Spartans would come back to tie it up 50-50 on a layup by Sharese Harris with 8:30 to play. Chattanooga took the lead twice more with UNCG fighting back to tie it up three more times.

UTC’s Aryanna Gilbert hit a layup with 4:07 to play and the Mocs would use a 14-2 run to lead 70-58 with 39 seconds to play. Chattanooga was 2-for-2 from the floor and 10-of-10 from the charity stripe in the run allowing just one shot from Mason to find the basket.

The Mocs were 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the field in the final quarter and shot 50 percent (26-52) for the game. Chattanooga edged UNCG in the paint 42-40 and had 13 points off 11 Spartan turnovers. UTC converted 19 offensive boards into 10 points and had 10 fast break points compared to UNCG’s six.

Mason was 10-of-25 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line with a game-high 26 points. Harris was the only other UCG player in double figures with 12 points off the bench. Keli Foster had seven point while India Timpton led the Spartans with six rebounds.

The Mocs will hit the road to take on Mercer Thursday at 7 p.m. in Macon, Ga. The Bears snared a last-second win at Samford Saturday with Kahlia Lawrence hitting the game-winner as time expired. The contest will tip off at 7 p.m.

UTC 72, UNCG 61

UNCG     10  13  25  13  65

 UTC        22    9  16  25  72

UNCG (61) - Timpton 2, Wilson 5, Foster 7, Callahan 5, Lucy Mason 26, Missouri 2, Penick, Scaife 2, Bartley, Harvey, Shanese Harris 12.

 UTC (72) - Jasmine Joyner 18, Payne 4, Queen Alford 20, Keiana gilbert 12, Aryanna Gilbert 14, Johnson 4, Burks.

 3 Point Goals: UNCG (2-12) Foster, Callahan. UTC (1-7) K. Gilbert.

Attendance: 2,871