UTC Women Enjoy “Most Complete Game” of the Year in Beating Greensboro 67-46

(gomocs.com) CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The Chattanooga Mocs shot 62 percent in overtime Thursday night at The McKenzie Arena to snare a 67-46 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference women’s basketball action.

Chattanooga scored the first five points of the game and led wire-to-wire, getting out front by as much as 21 points three different times in the fourth.

The Mocs used a 10-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to pull away from the Spartans who had managed to cut Chattanooga’s lead to six points. With UTC up 41-27 midway through the third, UNCG went on an 8-0 run in the latter half of the period, slicing the Mocs lead to 41-35 with 2:38 to play in the frame.

With less than a minute to play in the third, Raven Thompson’s pass to Sigrun Olafsdottir sparked the Mocs run over the next 4:10 putting UTC up 51-35 with 6:56 to play. Chattanooga never let off the gas for the rest of the game and upped the lead past 20 points.

Yazz Wazeerud-Din scored eight points in the fourth quarter and Abbey Cornelius added seven. Chattanooga held the Spartans just 11 points in the period and 25 percent (4-16) shooting.

Wazeerud-Din led all scorers with 19 points and had a career-high three blocked shots. Olafsdottir added 12 points and matched her season-high for rebounds with six. Thompson had nine points and eight rebounds. Cornelius added another nine and pulled down six boards.

Chattanooga was 28-of-60 (46.7%) for the game and made 4-of-16 from deep while not getting to the line until late, making 7-of-9.

The Mocs took control of the boards outrebounding the Spartans 40-31 and scoring nine second chance points off nine offensive rebounds. Chattanooga converted 11 turnovers into 14 points while UNCG had four points off 12 Mocs miscues.

Chattanooga held the Spartans to more than 20 points below their season average of 68.1 points per game. UTC allowed the league’s leading rebounder Khalis Cain just six compared to her 9.6 average and the SoCon’s top 3-point shooter, Faith Price, went 0-for-5.

Akira Wiggins and Nitzan Amar paced the Spartans with 12 points each while Cain and Isys Grady had a team-best six rebounds each.

Chattanooga improves to 12-9 overall and 4-2 in SoCon play while the Spartans fall to 10-10 on the year and 3-3 against the league.

The Mocs remain at home to host Western Carolina Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. and celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day. All girls 12 years and younger receive FREE admission to the game and families can use a code to receive $5 tickets. Tickets are on sale at The McKenzie Arena box office or online at GoMocs.com.

FROM THE HEAD COACH

Opening Statement

“I thought tonight was our most complete game on both sides of the ball. Our defense was good as our defense has been and then it turned into finally executing on the offensive side. We had some key contributions off the bench that we haven’t had. Takia Davis, I thought was phenomenal. Karsen [Murphy] came in and got some minutes. Collectively, we pieced it together. Very, very pleased with the group tonight and we’ll celebrate till midnight and then we turn right into Western [Carolina] on Saturday.”

TOP TEAM TAKEAWAYS

• Chattanooga shot 61.5% in the fourth quarter and scored 22 points in the period after not making a single field goal last week against Furman in the fourth and scoring just two points on free throws.

• Chattanooga led wire-to-wire for the first time this season … game started with UTC scoring the first five points.

• Held the league-leading rebounder, Khalis Cain (9.6/game) to six rebounds … held SoCon-leading 3-point shooter to 0-for-5 from beyond the arc.