Meghan Downes of UTC is pressured by Appalachian State’s Amber Doniere Saturday at Maclellan Gym.It might have been “throwback day” at Maclellan Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team, but pretty soon it felt just any other game: The Mocs won.
Freshman Aryanna Gilbert scored a career-high 14 points, and the Mocs rode a hot start to a 69-41 win over Appalachian State in front of a crowd of 1,778 fans. The crowd got to feel nostalgic throughout the game, as halftime was filled with trips back in Maclellan history, grouped with the No. 1 song of the year with each moment.
So while Bon Jovi’s “Shot Through the Heart” played over the loudspeakers, UTC was delivering a similar-type fate to the Lady Mountaineers, who nearly upset the Mocs when the teams played in Boone, falling 73-68 in overtime. Saturday’s win was the 16th straight, 35th consecutive at home and 28th straight in Southern Conference play for the Mocs, and it gave them their third consecutive 20-win season.
“Up there, App shot so well, and we didn’t play our best basketball,” said UTC senior forward Taylor Hall, who had 11 points, a game-high 10 rebounds and five assists. “They mixed their defenses up and it caused us some problems, but today I thought we handled things. We came out with more energy, and it showed on the end result.”
By the 15:20 mark of the first half, UTC (20-3, 12-0) held a 13-2 lead, and Gilbert — who entered the contest averaging 3.7 points per game — already had eight points. Video study in preparation for the game showed that the 5-foot-9 freshman would have some opportunities in back cuts, and that proved true, as she finished 7-for-7 from the field.