The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team erased a 10-point deficit in the second quarter and cruised to an impressive 74-59 Southern Conference victory over UNC Greensboro on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena.
UTC (6-16, 5-3) was led by senior Lakelyn Bouldin's season-best 25 points, and freshman guard Dena Jarrells had her best game yet as a Moc with 14 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Bouldin passed former UTC guard Jenaya Wade-Fray for 13th on the program's career scoring list.
"Once they figured out that sharing the ball was the way, that was big for us," UTC coach Katie Burrows said. "I thought we got three quality quarters of just moving the ball, moving our bodies, sharing the ball and playing at a nice tempo. Once we got settled in, it was really nice and fun to watch."
Abbey Cornelius added 12 points for the Mocs, who had a balanced attack with 21 bench points and eight players scoring. UTC outrebounded UNCG 37-28, scored 10 points on fast breaks and got 11 second-chance points.
Coming off a grueling triple-overtime win at East Tennessee State on Saturday, the Mocs got off to a bumpy start.
Nadine Soliman, the Spartans' career scoring leader, made seven baskets in the opening 10 minutes to help the visitors take a six-point lead after one quarter. The Mocs were down 28-18 with 7:35 remaining in the first half, but their 18-7 run to end the second quarter gave them a 36-35 lead and they did not trail again, building their advantage to 23 points midway through the fourth quarter.
The victory avenged a 49-41 road loss to the Spartans on Jan. 11 and gives UTC a boost in the league standings.
"This team was one team we were really upset about when they beat us away, because we had them," Jarrells said. "The third quarter has always been a hard quarter because we get a lead and then start relaxing. Today, we weren't relaxing; we were ready."
UNCG (16-7, 5-3) was led by Soliman's 24 points, but after a 15-point first quarter, UTC's defense frustrated her the rest of the way.
UTC's next game is also at home, against Western Carolina (4-19, 1-7) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
THURSDAY'S STAR
Bouldin's prolific scoring in the second half was the difference for the Mocs. She had nine points in the third quarter as the Mocs outscored the Spartans 18-8 to take control, and she added another nine in the fourth. She now has 1,366 points for her career and is also tied with Wade-Fray for fourth on the UTC 3-pointer list with 214.
STANDOUT STAT
74 points. The Mocs shredded a UNCG defense that entered the game ranked No. 13 in the nation for scoring defense, having allowed an average of just 54.3 points per game. Against UTC, the Spartans gave up a season worst in points as the home team shot 51.9% from the field, including a lights-out 7-for-11 in the final quarter.
TURNING POINT
The Mocs outscored UNCG 18-8 in the third quarter, but the real turning point came during a three-minute stretch in the second quarter when UTC went on a 9-0 run to cut a 10-point deficit to one. After the Mocs and Spartans traded a pair of baskets, Bouldin hit a 3-pointer to give her team its first lead at 32-31, and the Mocs took a 36-35 lead into halftime. In the second half, the Mocs turned a nail-biter into a huge blowout victory.
WHAT IT MEANS
It's February, and teams are starting to pay closer attention to the standings as postseason play gets closer. By defeating a team ahead of them, the Mocs have put themselves into a four-way tie for second place in the SoCon. UTC will still have to survive a tough two-game road swing at Furman and Wofford next week, but the rest of the Mocs' games will be played in McKenzie. If they can keep playing like they did Thursday, they will be in good position to secure one of the higher seeds at next month's league tournament in Asheville, North Carolina.
QUOTABLE
Jarrells on her breakout performance: "It's been a long season for me being a freshman. I haven't gotten to play in the past couple of games as much as I was at the beginning of the season. I hadn't really had that energy this year. But (Burrows) put me out there, and I let the game come to me, hitting those 3s and getting those assists. Love playing with Lakelyn. I was excited ever since I committed to get to play with her, and it's exciting to be on the same floor with her."
Bouldin on stopping UNCG's offense: "We knew coming in that Soliman had been struggling a little bit because everybody's been focusing on her. But we let her get hot early, and that wasn't the plan. We just made some minor adjustments to take away her left hand and try to shut her down. Once we shut her down, things really started clicking for us."
Burrows on how a balanced attack sparked Bouldin's big game: "Everybody's been talking about how Lakelyn's struggling, and I have said that we have got to get some people around her to start doing more. Then teams have to honor that and have to help off, and she's going to get open. Guess what? She did, and she hit four out of five of her 3s, and then she took them down, posted up and made some moves. She just got the confidence flowing. That was big for us to get some production from some other folks, and now they have to help and it opens her up."
Contact Jim Tanner at JFTanner@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JFTanner.