Samford’s Cassidy Williams defends from below as the Mocs’ Queen Alford scores inside in second half action and leads the team in scoring Wednesday night in a late-season conference game at McKenzie Arena.A suffocating effort.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team dominated Samford on the defensive end of the court and built a big halftime lead with good offense on the way to a 53-30 Southern Conference win in front of 1,533 fans Wednesday night at McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs (19-7, 10-2) earned a split of the season series with Samford and assumed complete control of second place in the SoCon standings. They can move into a tie for first with a win over visiting Mercer on Saturday, with that 2 p.m. game the first part of a doubleheader. UTC’s men host UNC Greensboro at 5 p.m.
UTC’s women held solid Samford (16-10, 8-3) – which won this season’s first meeting 48-43 on Jan. 23 – to 24 percent shooting from the field Wednesday.
The Bulldogs’ 30 points were the fewest scored by any team in a SoCon game this season, as well as the fewest points allowed by UTC since an 88-23 win over Vanderbilt on Jan. 19, 1977, before current UTC head coach Jim Foster was the Commodores’ leader.
The Mocs’ Queen Alford scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter.
“We came out with a lot of energy,” said Alford, who also finished with nine rebounds. “We needed to come out with a lot of energy, and that’s what we did. That’s something every basketball team needs, especially when you’re playing a team you should have beat the first time.
“Our focus was on us because we’re more of a defensive team, and today was another day that showed we’re a great defensive team.”
Keiana Gilbert had her first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and both she and Sydney Vanlandingham had three assists to lead the Mocs.
Vanlandingham added six rebounds. Jasmine Joyner played only 14 minutes before fouling out as the Bulldogs went after her relentlessly on the offensive end, but the 6-foot-2 junior still finished with three blocks and two assists.
Despite Joyner’s absence, the Bulldogs never shot better than 30 percent in any quarter, with a 3-for-10 effort in the third period their best showing. They finished 2-for-15 from 3-point range and had 10 turnovers to only four assists.
“I thought we played defense at a high level for 40 minutes,” Foster said. “We mixed up our defenses more, and our looks varied – not consistent – and it makes it harder to play against.
“Offensively, we were a little tentative at first, but Queen sort of helped us get comfortable. Once we did, we realized there were some opportunities we needed to be taking advantage of.”
Brittany Stevens and Ellen Riggins had six points each to lead the Bulldogs. Former Gordon Lee standout Kassidy Blevins had two points, was 1-for-6 from the field and missed three 3-point attempts.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.