If there was supposed to be any loss of production from the center position when Faith Dupree got hurt against Davidson on Feb. 1, that notion was lost upon the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team.
Freshman Jasmine Joyner has stepped into the playing time vacated by Dupree’s ankle injury, and the productivity has been similar to what already was complementing senior Ashlen Dewart. As a group, Dewart, Dupree and Joyner have averaged 18.3 points, 10 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
In the last five games — including the one when Dupree was hurt — Dewart’s and Joyner’s combined averages have been 14.2 points, 10 rebounds and 4.2 blocks. They’ll try to reach, if not surpass, those figures when the Mocs face Wofford in a Southern Conference game this evening at 7 in Spartanburg, S.C.
UTC (22-3, 14-0) already has clinched the top seed for the conference tournament.
First-year UTC coach Jim Foster has liked the overall production from the center position. Dewart has been one of only two players, along with forward Taylor Hall, who has started every game, and she is second on the team in scoring (10.7) and rebounding (4.9).