Bouldin’s hot hand leads UTC women to home win
Hampton gave the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team — namely Lakelyn Bouldin and Aryanna Gilbert — a number of wide-open 3-point looks Thursday afternoon at McKenzie Arena.
And the UTC pair made them pay.
Led by six 3s and 32 points from Bouldin — both career highs for the sophomore — the Mocs overcame 24 turnovers to defeat Hampton 64-52 and finish 9-5 in nonconference play. They’ll begin Southern Conference play with a home game against UNC Greensboro next Thursday.
Bouldin was 9-for-17 from the floor and 6-for-8 from 3-point range, setting a career high in 3-pointers made. She was 8-for-9 from the foul line and chipped in seven rebounds for the first 30-point game at UTC since Jasmine Joyner had 31 against UT-Martin on Nov. 28, 2015.
“In the game my shot was feeling pretty good,” Bouldin said. “It was one of those days. I was spotting it, my teammates were finding me and I was hitting shots today.”
She wasn’t alone. Gilbert scored 14 points, connecting on a career-high four 3-pointers. The Mocs were 10-for-15 from 3-point range, taking advantage of Hampton’s defensive miscues. On a number of occasions, the Pirates (2-8) lost Bouldin and Gilbert while attempting to get steals, and the Mocs made them pay from long distance by drilling uncontested shots.
The Pirates’ frantic style of defense caused problems
early as the Mocs shot 7-for-8 from the field in the first quarter but led only 17-13 due to nine turnovers. UTC then slowed the pace some and was able to build a fivepoint halftime lead.
The Mocs were able to start pulling away in the third quarter, using an 18-3 run to build a 17-point lead entering the final period. UTC coach Jim Foster said turning the pace in his team’s favor “was difficult for a couple of reasons.”
“One, our quickest, most tenacious defenders aren’t practicing at the moment, so we can’t simulate,” he explained. “It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another to play against it. I think Keiana (Gilbert) played a little too fast. But I think other players early on weren’t trying to relieve her pressure, forcing her to have to do too much. Once more players got engaged and were comfortable with the ball, we really didn’t turn the ball over.”
Keiana Gilbert had seven of the Mocs’ 24 turnovers, which led to 26 Hampton points.
The Pirates started to rally late, cutting the lead to 60-52 on a layup by Monnazjea FinneySmith with 48 seconds to play, but Bouldin helped salt the game away UTC’s Arianne Whitaker shoots over Hampton’s Jephany Brown during their game Thursday at McKenzie Arena. The Mocs won 64-52.
by making four free throws in the final 46 seconds.
Arianne Whitaker continued her recent solid play for the Mocs, chipping in 10 points and five rebounds. In her past three games, the 6-foot-4 sophomore forward has averaged 8.3 points and as many rebounds per game.
Finney-Smith led the Pirates (2-8) with 17 points, connecting on half of her 10 attempts from 3-point range, but the Mocs held the visitors to 36 percent shooting overall.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.