BOONE, N.C. — In the first on-court battle of the Dewart sisters Sunday, younger sister Ashlen and Appalachian State came out on top against Bailey and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team.
Ashlen Dewart, a big 6-foot-3 sophomore, scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Mountaineers to a 70-54 win at the Holmes Center. Bailey Dewart, a 5-11 redshirt junior, finished with 5 points and three rebounds.
The victory was the Mountaineers’ 15th in a row at home and keeps them in first place in the Southern Conference. The Lady Mocs (8-10, 5-4 SoCon) had won 26 straight against the Mountaineers (12-4, 6-2).
“We had no answer for [Ashlen],” UTC coach Wes Moore said in a phone interview. “She’s hard to guard down there. She’ll bury you underneath the bucket and shoots a baby hook with her right hand every time.”
The teams went back and forth in the first half and were tied at 24 with 4:39 to play when the Lady Mocs went cold. Even with Ashlen on the bench with three fouls, the Mountaineers closed the half on an 8-0 run to lead 32-24 at the break.
Appalachian State pushed its lead to double digits early in the second half and was comfortably in front the rest of the way.
As a team, UTC hit only 19 of 59 shots (32.2 percent). Appalachian State was a little better (41.8 percent), and the Mountaineers outrebounded the Lady Mocs 47-38.
“They were more aggressive and they took it to us,” Moore said.
Whitney Hood led the Lady Mocs with 16 points and Kylie Lambert had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Lady Mocs guards Tenisha Townsend and Kayla Christopher, who average a combined 20.8 points per game, shot a combined 1-for-15 from the field. Christopher finished with 3 points and Townsend was held scoreless.
The Lady Mocs will play their third straight road game on Wednesday when they visit Samford.