The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team improved to 2-0 in the Challenge in Nashville on Saturday, defeating Georgetown 54-41 at Municipal Gymnasium.
UTC, 4-3 and on a four-game win streak, plays Auburn in the final game of the tournament this evening at 5:30 EST.
The Mocs' big three - returning starters Aryanna Gilbert, Keiana Gilbert and Lakelyn Bouldin - combined to score 44 points, with Keiana's 17 leading the way. She added seven rebounds. Bouldin was 4-for-6 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points, while Aryanna had 13 points and made half of her six 3-point tries.
Still, there were contributions from all around. Point guard Molly Melton had eight assists and only two turnovers. Arianne Whitaker had seven rebounds to go along with five points, while Ashlyn Wert blocked three shots and made a reverse layup for her two points.
"We have three experienced starters," UTC coach Jim Foster said on the postgame radio broadcast. "We'll rotate three people through the center position, and Molly has a grip on the point guard position that she's going to hold until the freshmen come along and show they can take care of the ball, because Molly does that and makes some timely shots."
The Mocs were 9-for-16 from 3-point range and shot 48 percent from the field against the Hoyas (2-3).
"Our 3s were a result of our patience on offense," Foster said. "That's a positive in a lot of ways."
The UTC defense limited Georgetown to 30 percent shooting (17-of-57). The athletic Hoyas out-rebounded the Mocs 34-31, with 17 offensive rebounds, but those were turned into only 11 second-chance points. Dionna White scored 12 points to lead Georgetown, but it took her 21 shots to do it.
"They're very physical, very athletic," Foster said. "I thought we did a great job of defending. We had some bad, unforced turnovers that we have to eliminate, but I thought our defense was solid. They're very big, athletic and come hard to the glass; they play in a conference (Big East) where if you don't play hard, you're in trouble."
UTC held a 25-19 lead at halftime and led 33-23 after a 3-pointer by Aryanna Gilbert three minutes into the third quarter. The lead never dipped below double digits the rest of the way, topping out at 17 points on two occasions, the final at 50-33 with 6:09 to play.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.