University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) recorded her sixth double-double of the year to lead the Mocs to a 61-46 win over Furman at the McKenzie Arena Thursday evening.
Joyner had 11 of her game-high 14 rebounds in the first half and scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. She was 9-of-11 from the field while playing all 40 minutes and had five blocked shots.
“Anytime you have somebody that can score on the block, it makes everything else a little bit easier,” Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster said.
“I think in the first half we just made some bad decisions.”
Sophomore Keiana Gilbert (Pulaski, Tenn.) dropped in a career-best three 3-pointers for 14 points to go along with five assists and a pair of blocked shots. Junior Queen Alford (Decatur, Ga.) was the third Chattanooga player in double figures with 11 points.
After Furman got out to an 11-3 start, junior Sydney Vanlandingham (Heritage, Tenn.) came off the bench to hit a layup with 2:46 to play in the opening frame, sparking a 17-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Alford to make it 20-11 in the Mocs favor with 5:54 to play in the second quarter. Chattanooga would lead 26-19 at the half.
Gilbert started the second half with the second of her three treys to expand the Mocs lead to 29-19. Furman would turn the tide briefly, putting together a 10-4 spurt to cut the Mocs’ lead to 33-29 with 6:20 to play in the third quarter.
However, Chattanooga pushed the lead back into double-figures with a 15-4 run bookended by a pair of layups from Joyner and seven points from Gilbert.
UTC was 25-of-56 from the field making 6-of-22 from the 3-point line. Furman edged the Mocs on the boards 34-31 with the difference being offensive rebounds. Furman scored four points off nine offensive grabs while the Mocs had nine points on six offensive rebounds.
Chattanooga outscored Furman 36-24 in the paint and 7-0 off turnovers. The Mocs had a season-low three miscues in the game, forcing the Paladins into eight. UTC’s bench, led by sophomore Anna Claire Noblit’s (Tuscumbia, Ala.) six points, outscored Furman 10-2.
“They were playing a zone and they were pretty packed in,” Foster said. “She’s a good shooter when she takes her time. I think she did a good job for us.”
Furman was 20-of-53 (37.7%) from the field. The Paladins, who lead the league with 7.1 treys per game, were held to just four on the night making just 21.1 percent of their attempts, well below their SoCon-best 33.4 percent.
Whitney Bunn had a team-high 14 points, Holli Wilkins added 11 and Kelsey Ellis was the third Paladin in double figures with 10 points. Cierra Carter had a team-high nine rebounds and seven points.
The win was the Mocs’ 39th consecutive home court win over a Southern Conference opponent dating back to January 22, 2011 in UTC’s 71-55 win over Western Carolina.
“We’re obviously more comfortable at home,” Foster said. “But you have to win those games on the road. I think we lost our way a little bit. I think Saturday we did a much better job and for the most part that carried over. Maybe not for the start, but after the first five minutes or so, I thought we played very well.”
Chattanooga remains at home to take on Wofford Saturday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader with the men’s team. The game is set to tip off at 2 p.m. at the Roundhouse. Tickets are available online at GoMocs.com or at the McKenzie Arena box office.