MOCS TAKE OVER SOCON LEAD WITH 67-45 WIN OVER MERCER SATURDAY

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team scored a 67-45 win over Mercer Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action at the McKenzie Arena in front of 2,933 fans to retake first place in the league standings.

The Mocs improve to 20-7 overall and 11-2 in SoCon action and hold a half game lead in the standings over the Bears who are 20-7 as well and 10-2 against the conference. Chattanooga has just one game left to play, a home contest against ETSU, while the Bears will host Wofford and Furman next week.

Linnea Rosendal drained a 3-pointer with 5:18 to go in the first quarter to cut Chattanooga’s lead to 8-7. That was the closest the Bears would get the rest of the way. UTC juniors Queen Alford (Decatur, Ga.) and Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Miss.) combined for 24 of the Mocs’ points in a 26-2 run, spanning two quarters, that gave UTC a 34-9 lead with 4:35 to play in the half.

The duo each topped 20 points in the contest. Alford had a game-high 24 points, her best at Chattanooga, with six rebounds. She was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 9-of 14 from the field. Joyner recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 20 points and 16 rebounds. She added in a career-high five assists in 40 minutes on the floor after playing a season-low 14 minutes against Samford on Thursday.

The Mocs shot 50 percent (8-16) in the first quarter and 90 percent (9-10) in the second and were 28-of-52 (53.8%) for the game.

Sophomore Keiana Gilbert (Pulaski, Tenn.) was the third player in double figures for Chattanooga, nearly reaching the 20-point mark with 18. She added in seven rebounds and had three assists.

Gilbert started the third quarter with a 3-pointer to give the Mocs their largest lead of the game, 43-17, with 9:04 to play in the period. Mercer scored the next nine points to cut the lead to 17, but UTC would respond with five more and the lead would never dip below 20 points the rest of the way.

Mercer outscored the Mocs 13-8 in the third quarter, shooting 46.2 percent from the field in the frame, but would be just 18-of-54 (33.3%) for the game. Forty-five points is the third fewest the Bears have scored in a game this season and the fewest against a Southern Conference foe.

Kahlia Lawrence, who ranks second in the league for scoring with 18 points per game, was held to just eight on 4-of-15 shooting and had a team-best six rebounds and two steals. KeKe Calloway led Mercer in scoring with nine points off the bench, four rebounds and two assists. Rachel Selph had eight points for the Bears with five rebounds and Alex Williams added eight points, making all four free throw attempts, and five boards.

Chattanooga outrebounded Mercer 37-16 and outscored them in the paint 36-16. Mercer never led in the game but its bench outscored the Mocs 17-2. UTC had 19 assists to 11 turnovers while Mercer had seven assists and seven miscues.

Chattanooga will close out the regular season next Saturday against ETSU in a 2 p.m. doubleheader with the men. Between games, the Mocs will honor senior Alicia “Red” Payne and graduate assistant coach Jonathon Goldberg. Pull out your “Red Specs” and show your support at Saturday’s game.

The game is also Military Appreciation Day. All military members, veterans and local first responders (police, fire, EMT, etc.) get FREE tickets for themselves and their families (limit 8).

Kids get in free with a paid adult general admission ticket, the first 500 students at the women’s game will receive a Chik-Fil-A chicken biscuit and the first 500 fans at the men’s game will receive the same. The men’s game will air on ESPN3.