The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team improved to 2-1 on the year with a 58-50 win over Hampton Friday night at the Hampton Convocation Center in the Mocs first road game of the year. Hampton falls to 0-2.
Freshmen Eboni Williams and Morgan Hill combined for 25 points. Williams had a team-high 13 points and seven rebounds making 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Hill was 3-of-5 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe for 12 points.
“Eboni with 13 and Morgan with 12, two of our freshmen,” Chattanooga head coach Katie Burrows said.
“Eboni had seven rebounds and Abbey, another freshman, had eight rebounds. They are really starting to get comfortable and giving us some quality minutes off the bench. I have been really pleased with their efforts.”
The Mocs started the game 0-for-7 from the field and had four turnovers before Bria Dial sank a 3-pointer. Chattanooga trailed 14-9 after the opening frame. In the second quarter UTC went on a 11-0 run to take the lead for the first time, 25-20 with 2:30 to play in the quarter. Chattanooga outscored the Lady Pirates 22-16 in the second quarter and led 31-30 at the break.
In the third quarter, the Mocs opened the lead with a 10-0 run to close the period and started the fourth with a 3-pointer from Lakelyn Bouldin to give UTC a 47-39 lead. Chattanooga led by as much as nine points in the final period and closed out the game making 9-of-12 from the free throw line.
“We actually made our free throws tonight,” Burrows said. “We were 0-0 at the half, but we got aggressive in the second half. That is one of the reasons we were able to get this win. It was a very gutsy win.”
The second quarter lifted the Mocs. UTC was 9-of-17 from the field and 4-of-5 from the 3-point line. Chattanooga shot 30 percent for the night making 18 on 60 attempts and hit 8-of-24 from the 3-point line. All of UTC’s free throws came in the second half. UTC was 14-of-18 from the charity stripe, making nine in the fourth quarter.
Bria Dial put in five points in the second quarter and ended the game with eight and three steals. Molly Melton had three steals, three assists and a team-high four steals. Chattanooga forced 25 miscues and converted that into 20 points and had a 38-8 advantage from the bench.
Charlisa Jenkins recorded a double-double for Hampton with a game-high 15 points and 13 rebounds. Ashley Bates added 13 points and Kaylah Lupoe had nine rebounds.
The Mocs remain on the road over the weekend and will face Virginia Tech Monday night at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va. The game will be carried on the ACC Network ($$) with former Chattanooga men’s basketball coach Mack McCarthy providing the color. Live stats and streaming audio will be available online at GoMocs.com.