Lady Mocs No Match For 2nd Rank Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team started strong and made a run at the end, but fell 88-53 to Notre Dame 88-53 at Purcell Pavilion Friday night on the Notre Dame campus.

 After the Irish got the opening tip, Chattanooga’s Jasmine Joyner blocked a Brianna Turner shot and the Mocs took it the other way for a 3-pointer from sophomore Chelsey Shumpert giving UTC its first of many leads.

That block was the first of eight, a Chattanooga single-game and Purcell Pavilion record, for the 6-2 sophomore. She finished the game with six points and 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) led the Mocs with 12 points, making 3-of-9 from beyond the arc and had four steals. Freshman Keiana Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) found her way into double figures with 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers on the night.

The Mocs started strong and led by as much as four. Senior Ka’Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) put in a layup with 15:39 to go in the half to give the Mocs a 10-6 lead, it’s largest of the game. Chattanooga led for nearly six minutes but soon faltered after Joyner left the game with two fouls with 14:02 to play.

The Irish went on a 26-3 run over the final 9:58 and led 46-21 at halftime.

The second half started as the first half ended with Notre Dame outscoring Chattanooga 29-7 over the first 10:20 to make it 73-30 with 9:23 to play. The Mocs struck back, however, and put together an 11-2 run with sophomore Moses Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) scoring seven points in the run. That was part of a 23-15 Chattanooga advantage over the final 8:31 of the game.

 The Irish had five players in double figures led by Jewel Lloyd with 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting in just 20 minutes of play. Mychal Johnson had 17 points off the bench making 5-of-6 3-pointers while Brainna Turner added 12, Lyndsey Allen had 11 and Taya Reimer had 10 points and a team-high seven boards. Allen and Michaela Mabrey each dished out six assists for Notre Dame.

The Mocs were 19-of-54 (35.2%) from the field and 8-of-25 from beyond the arc. Freshman Anna Claire Noblit (Tuscumbia, Ala.) hit for a pair in her nine minutes on the court, including a thrilling trey at the buzzer. After a 2-for-7 performance from the free throw line in the first half, the Mocs were 5-of-7 in the second.

The Irish out rebounded Chattanooga 40-25 and outscored UTC 54-16 in the paint. Both teams had 11 offensive boards but neither made much out of it with Chattanooga outscoring ND 5-4 on second chance points.

Chattanooga scored 14 points off 14 Irish turnovers, and Notre Dame had 23 points off 18 UTC miscues. The Mocs bench contributed 20 points led by Johnson.

Notre Dame shot 76 percent in the first half and had a 50 percent performance in the second half and were 38-of-63 for the game. From beyond the arc, ND was 7-of-12 and a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.

 Chattanooga evens its mark at 2-2 while the Irish remain perfect at 3-0. The Mocs will return home for a pair beginning with Austin Peay Monday night at the Roundhouse at 6 p.m. On Wednesday, Chattanooga will face its second Top 5 team in five days when Tennessee comes calling. That game is set to tip at 7 p.m.