CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The Samford women's basketball team dropped a 49-32 decision at 25^th-ranked Chattanooga Monday evening at McKenzie Arena.
 
"Chattanooga is very good," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "They did a great job of getting into us a little bit, and we didn't handle that well, from an offensive standpoint. We could never get in a good rhythm. They are a very sound team, offensively and defensively, and we have to do a better job of handling that."
 
The loss ends Samford's five-game win streak, and drops the Bulldogs to 11-9 overall and 4-1 in Southern Conference play. Chattanooga extends its win streak to 14 games, and the Mocs are 18-3 overall and 6-0 in league games.
 
In the loss, Samford was led by Taylor Reece with 10 points and five rebounds. Hannah Nichols scored six points, while Brittany Stevens added five points.
 
For Chattanooga, Keiana Gilbert led the way with 14 points and seven rebounds. Ka'Vonne Towns added 13 points for the Mocs.
 
Chattanooga jumped out to an early 9-2 lead with 14:30 to go in the first half after a basket by Jasmine Joyner. With UTC leading, 9-4, the Mocs went on an 11-0 run to take a 20-4 lead with 9:00 to go in the first half following a jumper by Gilbert. Samford came back with an 8-0 run of its own to cut the Chattanooga lead to 20-12 with 7:17 left in the opening half after a three-pointer by Nichols.
 
Chattanooga scored the next seven points to push its lead to 27-12 with 4:28 left in the half after a pair of free throws by Gilbert. Samford fought back to cut the lead to 11 points at 31-20 with 8.0 seconds to go in the half after a three-pointer by Reece. UTC's Alicia Payne hit two late free throws to give the Mocs a 33-20 halftime lead.
 
In the second half, Samford came back to cut the Chattanooga lead to nine points at 36-27 with 14:59 left after a layup by Destiney Elliott. Chattanooga, however, scored the next eight points to push its lead back out to 17 points at 44-27 with 9:29 to go after a layup by Moses Johnson.
 
The Bulldogs cut the lead to 14 points at 46-32 with 5:29 left in the game following a pair of free throws by Lydia McGee. Chattanooga scored the game's final three points to take the 49-32 win.
 
Samford shot 32.4 percent overall, including 20.0 percent from three-point range. Chattanooga made 35.2 percent of its shots from the floor and just 12.5 percent from three-point range. Samford committed 18 turnovers in the loss, compared to just six turnovers for Chattanooga.
 
Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 31, when the Bulldogs play at East Tennessee State. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. (CT) start from Johnson City, Tenn.