25th Ranked UTC Women Topple Mercer Saturday, 71-59.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team ran its win streak to 15 games with a 71-59 win over Mercer Saturday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena.

 

Chattanooga improves to 19-3 overall and remain unscathed in Southern Conference action at 7-0.

UTC has won 41 straight SoCon regular season games dating back to January 2012. Mercer evens its mark at 11-11 and 3-3 in the SoCon.

 

Coach Jim Foster had this to say on the Mocs' defense against the league's top scorer, Precious Bridges: “I thought our execution was good. I thought defensively we did a very good job against Precious Bridges in the first half.”

 

On Chattanooga’s ability to switch out Foster said, “We have a very interchangeable defense. We have people who can move their feet and we’re a team that doesn’t foul a lot so that’s a good combination.”

 

Chattanooga topped the 70-point mark for the sixth time this season and has three players in double figures. Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) had a game-high 19 points and six assists and was 4-of-8 from the 3-point line.

 

On the play change from the first to second half, Shumpert said, “I think we were more aggressive. We were aggressive the first half but I think we came out with a lot of energy in the second half. We moved the ball and played great defense.”

 

Sophomore Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.), with 16 points, was 8-of-12 from the field with five rebounds and three blocked shots. Freshman Keiana Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) tallied her second double-double this season with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with five assists.

 

Joyner had this to say on defending Bridges: “That was a focus. We always want to make other people handle the ball and do the scoring because they’re not very comfortable with it.”

 

After falling behind 7-3 to start the game, the Mocs took advantage of four missed shots by Mercer and went 3-for-3 for its own 7-0 run to get out front 10-7 on a fastbreak layup by Shumpert with 14:52 to go in the first half.

 

Over the next nine minutes, the teams traded shots with Mercer getting as close as 26-24 on an Alicia Williams 3-pointer with 5:08 to go in the half. But the Mocs would pull away, outscoring the Bears 13-2 over the next 3:42, with eight points from Joyner, and stretch its lead to 39-26 with 1:12 to go in the frame. The Mocs carried a 40-29 advantage into the break.

 

The second half started with a layup from Mercer’s Briana Williams to cut Chattanooga’s lead to single digits at 40-31. It would be all UTC over the next 5:49 with the Mocs going on a 16-0 run for its largest lead of the game at 56-31 with13:25 to play.

 

The run started with three missed shots and three offensive rebounds, resulting a layup for Gilbert. UTC made its next six shots with Gilbert scoring seven of her 13 points in the run. Mercer went 0-for-9 in the stretch, missed a pair of free throws and had four turnovers.

 

Concerning Gilbert's performance, coach Foster said, “This is the kind of game that she’ll thrive in. The way they play gives her a lot of opportunities to sort of pick and choose. She’s a good passer. She’s a good finisher, so she had a lot of opportunities today to make some solid decisions.”  

 

After being held to just two points for 30 minutes, SoCon-leading scorer  Bridges scored 12 points in the final 10 minutes. She had 14 points, making 3-of-4 from the free throw line and had three assists with two steals. Alicia Williams had a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds while Kahlia Lawrence added 12 to the mix.

 

Chattanooga edged Mercer 38-30 in the paint and outscored the Bears 14-10 off turnovers.  The Mocs’ bench outscored the Bears 12-2 and Chattanooga had 12 fastbreak points.

 

For the seventh time this season, the Mocs shot better than 50 percent, making 29-of-56 and dropped in seven 3-pointers. Mercer edged the Mocs on the boards 36-35 with 16 offensive rebounds and shot 40.6 percent for the day.

 

Chattanooga converted its 12 offensive rebounds into 16 points while Mercer responded with 15. UTC topped the 20-assist mark for the sixth time this season and had 11 turnovers.

 

Game stats: http://www.gomocs.com/fls/17700/stats/wbasketball/2014/utc0131.htm

 

POST-GAME NOTES

TEAM

- Today’s attendance of 2,639 is No. 19 all-time for the Chattanooga women’s basketball team in McKenzie Arena.
- Chattanooga has won a school-record 41 straight Southern Conference games. Last loss was a 70-60 OT defeat at Elon on Jan. 7, 2013.

- Head coach Jim Foster is 25-0 in SoCon games in his second season at UTC.
- UTC has won 48 of its last 49 games at home.
- UTC has won 15-straight overall.
- UTC led by as many as 25 in the second half. 56-31 at the 13:25 mark.
- Mercer’s 59 points are the most allowed in SoCon play this season for UTC.
- Six of UTC’s seven SoCon wins were by 10+ points. 
- UTC’s 20 assists tied for second-most this season. Sixth time this season with 20+. Season-high is 22 against Western Carolina on Jan. 17.
- Mocs had a season-low four steals today.
- UTC shot 29-56 (51.8%) from the field today.  Seventh time this season shooting over 50% from the field.   
- The Mocs are 10-1 all-time against Mercer. Previous meeting was a 73-61 win at home on Dec. 8, 1990.
- Freshman Keiana Gilbert was 3-4 from the free throw line. Rest of the team was 3-9.     
     
INDIVIDUAL

Keiana Gilbert – Fr.-G
- Second double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.  
- Shot 5-8 from the field and 3-4 from the FT line.  
- Added five assists.

Jasmine Joyner – So.-F
- 16 points on 8-12 shooting.
- Scored eight-straight at one point in the first half. 
- 13th game in double-figures.  Four of last five.
- Added three blocks and five boards.

Chelsey Shumpert – So.-G
- Game-high 19 points.
- Shot 7-12 from the field, 4-8 from 3-pt. range and 1-2 from the FT line. 
- Shooting 17-41 (41.5%) from 3-pt. range in SoCon play.
- Game-high six assists.

 

Chattanooga will hit the road for an early matchup at ETSU Monday morning.

 

The Mocs will take on the Bucs for the first time since 2005 as a SoCon school. ETSU rejoined the league this season after a nine-year hiatus. The Bucs are 14-7 overall and remain unscathed in league play moving to 6-0 with a narrow win over Samford Saturday afternoon.