After a long, tough set of road games, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team returns to campus with a bit of momentum and a solid start in the Southern Conference race.
Whitney Hood scored 16 points and Taylor Hall recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Mocs to a 59-46 win at Elon on Saturday night. They had won their conference opener two nights earlier at UNC Greensboro.
UTC (4-3, 2-0) hasn't played at home since a season-opening win over UAB on Nov. 11. The Lady Mocs went 3-3 in a stretch that took them to Texas to face No. 1 Baylor, to Indiana State, to Mexico for games against Idaho State and Cincinnati and then to North Carolina for their SoCon wins.
In what is becoming a pattern this season, UTC struggled to start the game, falling behind 8-2 against a gritty Phoenix squad.
"It wasn't always pretty, but it's nice to get a pair of conference wins on the road," UTC coach Wes Moore said on the radio after the game. "It gets us off to a great start, and now we get to go home and hopefully get some momentum."
"You've got be mentally tough. We fell behind again but we battled back."