Lady Eagles' Comeback Starts a Little Too Late
12/5/2010 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Redshirt freshman guard MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) scored a career-best 16 points, leading three other Lady Eagles in double figures, but Chattanooga held on to a 87-80 win at McKenzie Arena Saturday. Back-to-back three pointers by Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Krista Tate (Atlanta, Ga.) trimmed the Lady Mocs' lead to four points with less than a minute left in the game. Strategy forced the Lady Eagles to put Chattanooga at the line where the Lady Mocs made three of four free throws to secure the win.
Tate and Williams had 14 points each and Jordi Cook (Tunnell Hill, Ga.) had a career-best 10 points in the loss.
Chattanooga made 11 three-pointers in the first half and finished the game with a school single-game record 16. Every time Georgia Southern cut into the Lady Mocs' lead, Chattanooga would answer with a trey to stave off a Lady Eagle run. After Ro-Ro Smith's (Blackshear, Ga.) back-to-back baskets five minutes into the game, the Lady Mocs hit six straight three-point attempts, helping Chattanooga to a seven-point lead, 37-30.
Cook answered the Chattanooga treys with a three-pointer and then took the pass from Williams for a jumper to cut the deficit to four. Whitney Hood would put up back-to-back field goals of her own for Chattanooga and the Lady Mocs took the 41-35 lead into the half.
With two more three pointers to start the half, Chattanooga went on a 7-0 run to pull to a 10-point lead, 56-46 with 14:37 left in the game. Georgia Southern responded with a 9-0 scoring streak of its own as Tate had two free throws, then Danielle Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) had a steal for the feed to Logan Youngblood (Sylvester, Ga.). Youngblood hit the two-point basket with DuBose firing up the three just a minute later for a 56-53 Lady Moc lead.
Over a period of three minutes, the Lady Mocs hit six straight baskets to pull out to a 12-point lead, 70-58. Georgia Southern refused to give up, and its 13-4 run, using three pointers from Williams and Cook, made it a one possession game, 74-71. The Lady Mocs shut down the Lady Eagle comeback with a well-timed three and then added another two-points to put the lead back at eight. Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) connected from behind the arc, starting the trend for Williams and DuBose in the final minute.
The Lady Mocs shot 61.1 percent from the game, following the first half 57.7 shooting percentage with an 18-28, 64.3 percentage, in the second half. Georgia Southern shot a season-best 56.4 percent, nearly matching Chattanooga with its own 64 percent shooting in the second period.
Whitney Hood hit 10-14 from the field for a game-high 23 points while recording a game-high eight rebounds. Kayla Christopher had 21 points with five three-point baskets and Tenisha Townsend finished with 17 points which included four treys.
Georgia Southern will not compete this upcoming week due to final exams. The Lady Eagles play next on Sunday, December 12th, at Florida Atlantic and then travel to Stetson for a December 14th game to wrap up its road trip.
