The Chattanooga women’s basketball team dropped a 60-46 decision at Samford Thursday night in Southern Conference play. The Mocs (4-15), fall to 3-2 in conference action and the Bulldogs improve to 8-11 o n the year and 3-1 in league action.
Samford’s Natalie Armstrong led all scorers with 22 points making 9-of-16.
Lakelyn Bouldin had a team-high 11 points for the Mocs and Eboni Williams was one rebound shy of her career-high with 14.
The Mocs were 16-of-44 from the field with four 3-pointers and 5-of-10 from the free throw line.
"That wasn't the same team that was on the court last week,” Chattanooga head coach Katie Burrows said. “I have to take full responsibility for it. We have to prepare better. The two thing I said we had to do, making our free throws and taking care of the ball … missed five free throws and had 24 turnovers. You cannot turn the ball over that many times and expect to even come close to winning this ball game.”
Samford scored 22 points off the Mocs mistakes while UTC had eight points on 16 Bulldogs turnovers.
The game started out slow with the two teams combining for nine turnovers before the first media timeout and 5-of-11 from the field with UTC leading 6-4 with 4:40 to play in the opening period. Samford came out of the break in action outscoring Chattanooga 14-4 to take an eight-point lead at the end of the first.
The lead stretched to 10 points with Samford’s Charity Brown scoring five in the second quarter. The Mocs had nine chances at the free throw line, making just five.
Samford extended its lead in the third quarter with 17 points while holding UTC to just eight with scoring from Bouldin and Dena Jarrells. The Bulldogs started the scoring in the fourth with a jumper from Raven Omar for their largest lead of the game, 50-29.
Chattanooga responded with a 9-2 run capped off by the first of two 3-pointers from NaKeia Burks, to cut the lead to 52-38. The two teams would play it even to the end with the Bulldogs earning the 60-46 win.
Bouldin was 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. She moved ahead of Jasmine Joyner on the Mocs’ all-time scoring list ranking 15th with 1,325 career points.
Burks had eight points and Williams added six and two assists.
Samford was 24-of-55 from the field with seven 3-pointers while making just 5-of-10 from the charity stripe. Chattanooga won the rebounding battle 36-28 and scored seven second chance points on eight offensive boards.
The Mocs will travel to Mercer (0-4 SoCon) for a Saturday afternoon matchup in Macon, Ga. The game is set to tip off at 2:00 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN3 and WFLI. Follow all the action at GoMocs.com.
GAME SUMMARY
CHATTANOOGA 10 11 8 17 -- 46
SAMFORD 18 13 17 12 -- 60
CHATTANOOGA (46) – Williams 6, Cornelius 4, Dial 4, Burks 8, Bouldin 13, canter, Pene, Jarrells 3, Wood, Uwusiaba 4, Searcy 4.
SAMFORD (60) – Armstrong 22, Battle 8, Serup 2, Brown 7, Myers 12, Allen, Omar 5, Crozer 4.
FIELD GOALS: Chattanooga 16 for 44 for 36.4 percent; Samford 24 of 55 for 43.6 percent.
3-POINT GOALS: Chattanooga 4 for 15 for 26.7 percent (Williams 1-3, Cornelius 0-2, Dial 1-4, Burks 2-4, Bouldin 0-2, ); Samford 7 for 20 for 35 percent (Armstrong 1-3, Battle 2-3, Serup 0-5, Brown 1-3, Myers 2-4, Omar 1-1, Crozer 0-1).
REBOUNDS: Chattanooga 36 (Williams 14, Dial 4, Cornelius 3, Burks 3, Bouldin 2, Pene 2, Uwusiaba 2, Searcy 1, Team 5); Samford 28 9Armstrong 5, Battle 1, Serup 2, Brown 6, Myers 3, Allen 3, Omar 2, Crozer 2, Team 4)
TURNOVERS: Chattanooga 24 (Williams 5, Dial 4, Cornelius 3, Burks 4, bouldin 2, Jarrells 2, Usuwiaba 2, Searcy 1, Team 1); Samford 16 (Battle 2, Brown 5, Myers 3, Allen 2, Omar 3, Team 1).
ASSISTS: Chattanooga 4 (Williams 2, Dial 1, Bouldin 1); Samford 16 (Armstrong 2, Serup 1, Brown 5, Myers 5, Omar 3).
STEALS: Chattanooga 3 (Williams 1, Burks 1, Bouldin 1); Samford 6 (Serup 1, Brown 2, Myers 2, Allen 1).
TOTAL FOULS: Chattanooga 12; Samford 16.
ATTENDANCE: 251.