TEMPE, Ariz. – The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team got off to a very good start Saturday night and leads Oklahoma State 37-19 at halftime at Wells Fargo Arena.
The 13th-seeded Lady Mocs hit their first five shots, three of them 3-pointers, to take control of the game. Fourth-seeded Oklahoma State, meanwhile, made just three of its first 25 shots, which allowed the Lady Mocs to run out to a 29-10 lead.
After hitting a pair of free throws with 15:00 left in the half to cut UTC’s lead to 17-10, the Cowgirls didn’t score again for more than 10 minutes.
The Lady Mocs took the 29-10 lead on a Kayla Christopher 3 with 9:53 left in the half but hit a cold streak of the own. They didn’t score again until Shanara Hollinquest hit two free throws to put UTC up 31-14 .
Christopher led all scorers in the first half with 11 points. Tenisha Townsend had nine and Hollinquest had eight.
Tegan Cunningham, the Cowgirls’ leading scorer at 16.2 points per game with star point guard Andrea Riley (26.6 ppg) suspended for the opening round, missed her first 11 shots. She has six points at the break.
The 18-point deficit is Oklahoma State’s biggest at the half this season.
For more, read Sunday’s Times Free Press. You can also follow John Frierson’s coverage of the Mocs at twitter.com/mocsbeat and facebook.com/mocsbeatTFP.