UTC Women’s Basketball Runs Past ETSU 66-46
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team won its second straight game Saturday with a 66-46 win over East Tennessee State in Southern Conference action at Brooks Gym. UTC improves to 4-14 overall and 2-1 in league play while the Bucs fall to 1-13 on the year and 0-1 in SoCon action.
The Mocs shot just over 50 percent for the game and out rebounded the Bucs 42-26. Amaria Pugh and Brooke Hampel combined for 30 of the Mocs 66 points and Abbey Cornelius had a career-high six blocked shots in the game.
Pugh led the Mocs in scoring for a third straight game, matching her season-high with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
“Here comes Mari, the Mari train three games in a row double figures and then Brooke right behind her,” head coach Katie Burrows said. “I got asked that question from their TV guys here before the game, you know, who are your players, really clutch, really coming along and I said those two, and they proved it today.”
The Mocs used a 10-0 run in the middle of the first quarter to get out in front of the Bucs and led 14-2 with 2:36 left in the period and led 20-4 after the first 10 minutes.
ETSU responded with nine points to start the second quarter, cutting the Mocs lead to 20-13 less than two minutes into the frame. ETSU got as close as six points a few minutes later at 23-17, but UTC answered with eight straight to stretch the lead back to double figures at 31-17 and led 33-21 at the break.
The Mocs used a 64.3 percent effort in the third quarter to maintain its double-digit lead as the Bucs shot 57.1 percent in the period and made its final seven shots. Cornelius had six points in the quarter and three of her game-high six blocked shots and Pugh added five points.
In the fourth, UTC did not allow the Bucs a basket for nearly eight minutes and built its lead to 61-43 with 2:06 to play. Pugh’s 3-pointer in the final minute of the game, pushed the lead to its largest of the game, 64-43.
Hampel had 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting for her seventh double digit game of the year. Cornelius was a bucket shy of a double-double with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds and had three assists.
Destiny McClendon was 2-of-2 from the 3-point line with eight points and Dena Jarrells added seven points and three steals.
Sigrun Olafsdottir had six points, six rebounds and five assists while Addie Porter had five assists, four points and four rebounds.
The Mocs had 16 assists in the game, second most this season and 12 turnovers with just four in the second half.
Courtney Moore paced ETSU with a team-best 13 points with a trio of 3-pointers. Jakhyia Davis had a team-high nine reounds and six points. Aaliyah Vananda dropped in a pair of shots from range and chipped in eight points for the Bucs.
Chattanooga returns home to host Western Carolina Thursday, Jan. 20 at The McKenzie Arena. The game is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m.
