Bench boosts UTC women to victory in SoCon opener
On a night his team’s shots weren’t falling, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach Jim Foster was able to turn to a couple of things he hadn’t been able to use much this season: depth and freshmen.
The Mocs held UNC Greensboro to 20 percent shooting in the third quarter and led by 14 points in the fourth before settling on a 49-42 win Thursday at McKenzie Arena. It was the Southern Conference opener for both teams.
The UTC women (10-5) will host Western Carolina at 2 p.m. Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader, with the UTC men — who fell 75-63 to Western Carolina on Thursday — hosting East Tennessee State in the nightcap.
Against UNCG (6-10), Keiana Gilbert led the Mocs with 14 points and eight rebounds, while sister Aryanna had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, but UTC shot only 32 percent from the field for the game. Lakelyn Bouldin, third on the scoring list for the Mocs this season, battled foul trouble in the first half and was held to three points, though others picked up the slack.
Bria Dial scored a career-high nine points, all on 3-pointers — including one she banked in during the first half — and did a good job defensively on Nadine Soliman, UNCG’s leading scorer this season. Soliman finished with 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting.
UTC posts Rochelle Lee and Arianne Whitaker combined for 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Mocs — who have been playing with anywhere from seven to nine healthy players in recent weeks — expect point guard Molly Melton and post Ashlyn Wert to return from injury soon, with the 6-foot-4 Wert expected back Saturday.
“It’s nice to have depth. It’s nice to have options,” Foster said. “It’ll be nice that we don’t have to play X number of players 40 minutes. We’re getting some players back soon, and I think it just makes us more diverse.
“It just gives us versatility and allows us to do some things.”
The Mocs offset their low field-goal percentage by holding the Spartans to 29 percent shooting and turned 15 UNCG turnovers into 17 points. They also held the visitors scoreless for a span of 7:04, turning a twopoint deficit into a 12-point lead.
Foster praised freshmen Brooke Burns, Mya Long and Lee, who combined for 29 minutes and 13 rebounds.
“Our freshmen are growing up,” Aryanna Gilbert said. “They’re going to help us out down the road tremendously. Them stepping up now shows how good they can be when they jump on board.”
Ije Ajemba led the Spartans with 16 points and 16 rebounds.
“We couldn’t really penetrate their defensive line,” UNCG coach Trina Patterson said. “We got out of an attack mode, and we were hoping to attack the basket to cause a trigger, which freed up an offensive rebound. We got out of that.
“We turned the ball over too many times, and unforced turnovers were the difference in the game.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.