Dec. 4, 2000, Thanks to Don Harris, UTC SID

Box Score

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - One game after playing its best game of the season the Samford Bulldogs played their worse game of the season Monday night in Chattanooga. The Chattanooga Lady Mocs handed the Bulldogs their largest margin of defeat in two seasons, 84-44, at The McKenzie Arena.

Four Chattanooga players reached double digits - paced by freshman Miranda Warfield's career-high 19 points - and the 40-point margin of victory tied for the ninth-highest in the history of the program. Damita Bullock scored 16 on a perfect night where she was 7-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 on free throws.

"This was just one of those nights where everything went our way," said UTC coach Wes Moore. "Samford's got a nice team and they were coming off a 20-point win (over Florida Atlantic)."

There were two ties in the game's first two minutes, but UTC (5-2) took control right away and had a 10-point lead less than six minutes into the fray. A 17-1 Lady Mocs spurt took the advantage from 21-11 to 38-12 with 5:23 left in the first half.

The relentless Lady Mocs' defense forced 19 Samford turnovers, scoring 20 points off those miscues. UTC enjoyed a 50-33 rebounding advantage, led by Tishay Lewis with eight. Warfield, Katarika Banks and Jennifer Wilson each pulled seven boards. Lewis scored 11 points and Nneka Irons tallied 13 to go with four assists.

UTC held Samford to just 26.3 percent shooting while the Lady Mocs hit more than half their field goals for the first time this season (51.5 percent).

Samford (2-5), was playing its fifth game in nine days, was paced by Giovanni Price with 14 points. Aimee Cochran scored six points to go with five assists and three steals. It was the Bulldogs largest margin of defeat since a 44-point loss to Alabama on Nov. 19, 1998 and was the fifth largest margin of defeat in school history.

The Bulldogs will return home on Friday to face Michigan State at Seibert Hall.