SoCon tournament semifinal
UTC 49, Samford 41Samford (20-11)Elliott 1-7 0-0 2, Reece 3-10 0-0 8, Mayers 3-6 2-2 11, Stricklin 0-0 0-0 0, Stevens 1-7 0-0 2, Blevins 6-11 2-2 18, Fletcher 0-0 0-0 0, Riggins 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 14-44 4-4 41.UTC (23-7)Joyner 5-14 7-9 17, Payne 2-7 4-7 8, Alford 6-13 0-0 14, K. Gilbert 3-9 1-2 7, A. Gilbert 1-3 0-0 2, Johnson 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 17-48 13-20 49.Halftime—UTC, 29-18. 3-point goals—Samford 9-22 (Blevins 4-8, Mayers 3-4, Reece 2-5, Elliott 0-1, Stevens 0-4); UTC 2-13 (Alford 2-7, Joyner 0-1, Payne 0-1, A. Gilbert 0-1, Johnson 0-1, K. Gilbert 0-2). Rebounds—Samford 25 (Elliott 5); UTC 39 (Joyner 13). Assists—Samford 10 (Elliott 3, Stevens 3); UTC 6 (Payne 4). Turnovers—Samford 14 (Reece 4); UTC 11 (Payne 3). Blocks—Samford 2 (Reece, Stevens); UTC 9 (Joyner 8). Steals—Samford 4 (Elliott 2); UTC 8 (Payne 4). Total fouls—Samford 15, UTC 7. Fouled out—none.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team played the third quarter of its Southern Conference tournament semifinal game not to lose, and the result was Samford erasing an 11-point deficit.
UTC played the fourth quarter to win, and a 49-41 win was the result.
The second-seeded Mocs weren't great offensively in the final period Friday, but they limited the Bulldogs to 1-for-10 shooting and advanced to Sunday's Southern Conference championship game against top seed Mercer, which defeated Furman in the other semifinal.
Jasmine Joyner had 17 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots for UTC (23-7), while Queen Alford scored 14 points. Keiana Gilbert had 10 rebounds with seven points as the Mocs won their 10th consecutive game and 11th straight in conference tournament play.
The Mocs primarily played zone defense against the Bulldogs (20-11), limiting them to 32 percent from the field and to 5-of-22 shooting inside the 3-point line.
"Samford moves the ball so good," said UTC coach Jim Foster, who moved into eighth place all-time in Division I women's basketball with his 864th win. "They run that Princeton stuff, they make good reads with a lot of cuts and they're perfectly willing to take 28 seconds off the clock before taking a shot.
"Except for that blip in the third quarter, I thought we defended them much better out of the zone."
UTC was at its collective best on defense in the first and final quarters. Samford was scoreless for a span of 6:29 - starting with the final 5:22 of the first period - as the Mocs turned a two-point deficit into a 16-7 lead early in the second quarter. They built a double-digit margin by the 3:02 mark and led 29-18 at halftime as Joyner had nine points, six rebounds and six blocks in the first 20 minutes.
Samford rallied in the third quarter, going 4-for-5 on 3s, with three 3s from Amara Mayers and the other from Gordon Lee graduate Kassidy Blevins. The two had nine points each while UTC was limited to eight as a team, with a late basket by Blevins giving the Bulldogs a 38-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Alford scored on a transition basket to put the Mocs up 39-38, and that seemed to relax the team. Joyner, who missed two free throws early in the period, calmly sank a pair, and then Gilbert made a jump shot for a five-point advantage.
Taylor Reece hit a 3-pointer from the corner for the Bulldogs' only points of the fourth quarter with 5:07 remaining. Samford would go on to miss its final four shots and turn the ball over four times in its final eight possessions, while the Mocs got a layup by Alford, a putback by Aryanna Gilbert and two free throws from her sister for the final margin.
Blevins finished with 18 points, making four of eight from 3-point range, to lead the Bulldogs. Mayers had 11 points.
The Mocs outrebounded Samford 39-25 and outscored their opponents 26-8 in the paint.
"I'm definitely disappointed for our team," Samford coach Mike Morris said. "Chattanooga is probably playing better than anybody in our conference down the stretch, but I'm proud of how our team responded in the second half. They didn't quit and showed a lot of toughness, and to take the lead in the fourth quarter was a credit to them.
"We got beat by a very good team, but I'm definitely pleased with our team's effort and with the response after getting down in the first half."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.