The Chattanooga women's basketball team will host a strong Florida Gulf Coast team Sunday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena. The Mocs' six-game win streak was snapped last week against Virginia Tech. FGCU is on a four-game win streak highlighted by a six-point upset of #20 Kentucky at Alico Arena.
The Mocs and Eagles met for the first time last year. FGCU came away with a 68-55 victory over Chattanooga in Ft. Myers, Fla., at Alico Arena.
The Mocs six-game win streak was snapped in a lopsided loss to Virginia Tech last week at the McKenzie Arena.
The Hokies took advantage of Chattanooga's slow start and piled on the points for a 64-44 win.
Chattanooga leads the Southern Conference in 3-point shooting averaging 6.7 per game and making 41.2 percent of its attempts. Four Mocs, led by junior Molly Melton (.550), are ranked in the top five in the SoCon. Keiana Gilbert has made 46.2 percent of her long range bombs while Lakelyn Bouldin is fourth in the league shooting 43.4 percent while leading the Mocs with 23. Aryanna Gilbert, ranked fifth in the SoCon at .424, has nearly doubled her career for made treys with 14 this season.
The Mocs are second in the SoCon for scoring defense (58.0), field goal percentage (.425) and blocked shots (3.9). From the free throw line, Chattanooga is shooting 73.5 percent and is first in rebounding defense allowing opponents just 32.1 rebounds per game.
Keiana Gilbert leads the Mocs with 14.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, both fifth in the league standings. Lakelyn Bouldin ranks second on the team with 13.2 points per game and has a team-high 2.3 3-pointers per game. Aryanna Gilbert is 21-of-21 from the free throw line and is third on the team in scoring with 12.9 points per game and ranks second with the Mocs for rebounding averaging 5.3 per game.
The Eagles started the season with six straight wins and are currently on a four-game win streak broken up by losses to #8 Ohio State and Belmont at the "Play4Kay Shootout" in Las Vegas. Last week, FGCU came away with an upset 70-64 win over #20 Kentucky at home.
Florida Gulf Coast leads the Atlantic Sun in scoring (79.4), field goal percentage (.435), 3-point field goal percentage (.374), assists (15.8), assist-turnover ratio (1.2), turnover margin (+5.9) and 3-point field goal made (12.7). The Eagles are outscoring opponents by 15.2 points per game but hold a narrow advantage on the boards at 36.8 – 36.7 rebounds per game.
Julien Rosemarie leads FGCU in scoring with 13.8 points per game. She is shooting 44.2 percent from the field and is 27-of-77 from the 3-point line. Nasrin Ulel with 11.4 points and Taylor Gradinjan with 11.0 point per game are second and third on the team in scoring. Grandinjan has 36 from long range while Ulel has 29, shooting 48.3 percent. Tytionia Adderly leads the team on the boards with 8.8 per game and has a team-best 23 steals. Erica Nelson, also a starter, is averaging 8.3 points per game and has a team-high 35 assists.