Feb. 28, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Chattanooga women's basketball team clinched the Southern Conference regular-season title with a 72-48 win at Samford Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.

The championship is the 10th-straight for Chattanooga. Samford finishes second in the regular-season and will open the SoCon Tournament on Friday, Mar. 6, at 8 a.m. (CT) against a to be determined opponent in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"This was an example of a team who has been on this stage and really upped their game," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "The most disappointing thing was that they had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half. That is just effort and being in a situation to go get the ball. I think they just wanted to ball more than we did."

Samford was led in scoring by sophomore guard Emily London with 21 points. London also led the team in rebounding with seven. London made 7-of-8 shots from the floor, and she was good on all six free-throw attempts, giving her 54-consecutive made free throws. Senior forward Chika Okoli added nine points for the Bulldogs.

For Chattanooga, Jenaya Wade-Fray led the team in scoring with 12 points. Shanara Hollinquest had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Erin Ogan scored 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Lady Mocs.

Chattanooga raced out to an early 10-2 lead with 16:40 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by LaCondra Mason. Samford scored the next five points in a row to cut the lead to 10-7 with 14:28 left in the first half after a layup by Okoli.

Chattanooga answered with an 8-0 run to push its lead to 11 at 18-7 with 12:37 to go in the half after a pair of free throws by Mason. After Samford cut the lead to nine at 23-14, the Lady Mocs went on a 10-2 run to push its lead out to 17 at 33-16 with 2:41 left in the opening half after a three-pointer by Tenisha Townsend.

Chattanooga led by as much as 18 points in the first half at 36-18, and the Lady Mocs took a 36-22 lead into halftime.

Samford cut the UTC lead to 11 at 36-25 after a three-pointer by Okoli to open the half. The Lady Mocs then went on a 12-2 run to push the lead out to 21 at 48-27 with 13:13 to go in the game after a layup by Megan Rollins.

Samford fought back to cut the Chattanooga lead to 14 at 48-34 with 9:43 to play after a pair of free throws by London. With UTC leading by 14 at 52-38, the Lady Mocs went on an 11-0 run to give them a 63-38 lead with 6:19 to go in the game.

Samford could get no closer than 21 points the rest of the way as Chattanooga came away with the 72-48 win.

For the game, Samford shot 35.6 percent from the floor, while Chattanooga hit 42.9 percent of its shots. Samford made just 17.6 percent of its three-point attempts, while UTC made 43.3 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. UTC grabbed 12 offensive rebounds compared to Samford's four.

With the loss, Samford drops to 21-6 overall and 16-4 in SoCon play. Chattanooga is currently 21-8 overall and 17-3 in league play.