January 13, 2003

CHATTANOOGA PULLS AWAY FROM LADY PALADINS 80-64

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The Lady Mocs hit a season-high 12 3-pointers and three freshmen -- Angela Hunter, Katasha Brown and Tiffani Roberson -- combined for 38 points to lead Chattanooga to an 80-64 Southern Conference victory over Furman Monday night at McKenzie Arena.

The triumph matched the Lady Mocs' longest win streak of the season at six and it upped their records to 12-2 overall and 5-0 in the Southern Conference. The win, coupled with Georgia Southern's home loss to UNC Greensboro, puts Chattanooga alone in first place in the league. Furman fell to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in the league.

While Furman used various zone defenses throughout the entire game, Chattanooga took advantage of its outside shooting. UTC tossed up 32 3-pointers, which tied for the most in school history. The 12 made were the fourth-most in school history and a season high. The Lady Mocs have made 23 trifectas in the last two games.

"We were very fortunate in the first half to shoot the ball well," said UTC coach Wes Moore. "I'm proud of the effort to put the game away late in the second half after they made a run."

Chattanooga used an 11-0 run to take a 14-14 tie game to a 25-14 advantage on Brown's 3-pointer with 8:30 left in the first half. UTC's 39-26 halftime lead was its biggest of the first half, when the Lady Mocs went 9-for-20 on 3-pointers. UTC missed its first six triples of the second half and Furman crashed the backboards. The Paladins sliced the lead to just 52-49 with 7:47 left in the game and they had a 16-5 advantage on the glass in those 12-plus minutes.

Chattanooga found the range again when Hunter canned her third 3-pointer with 7:28 left. UTC slowly increased the lead, and with 4:05 left the lead was once again double digits.

Hunter finished with a career-high 14 points by hitting her first four treys. Brown matched her with 14 points and a pair of triples. Roberson scored 10 points -- her third double-digit game in the last four outings -- and tied a career high with seven boards.

The Lady Mocs finished with a 35-30 advantage on the glass, including 17 offensive rebounds. Chattanooga forced 19 Furman turnover while UTC committed just 11. Jennifer Wilson scored nine points and pulled six boards. Miranda Warfield and Heather McDivitt both scored eight. Katie Galloway dished out a career-high six assists and Nneka Irons had a season-high five assists. UTC's bench outscored the starters 52-28.

"We have so many 3-point shooters that if one is not hitting, it's nice you have a reliever to go to," Moore said.

Furman hit a season-high 50 percent from the floor (24-for-48) and went 14-for-15 on free throws. The Paladins have gone 29-for-32 at the stripe in the last two games. Deshara Shealey led a trio of double-digit scorers with 18 points. Chattanoogan Tommi Paris, who prepped at GPS, had 12 points in front of her hometown fans and Jen Nadalin had 12 points and nine boards. Kim Lawrence came up with nine rebounds and eight points.

Chattanooga takes its act to primetime on Saturday when Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast televises the Lady Mocs' 4 p.m. contest at UNC Greensboro. Furman hosts Wofford Saturday at 4 p.m.