Jan. 6, 2003

Final Stats

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Lady Mocs raced to a 20-point halftime lead, and then punished Western Carolina with a solid second half to complete an 80-64 victory over the Catamounts Monday night at the Ramsey Center. With the loss, Western Carolina fell to 9-3 and 2-1 in the conference, while Chattanooga (10-2) became the first league team with double-digit wins and sits at 3-0 in the SoCon.

Jennifer Wilson scored 12 of her 16 points in the first half and UTC dominated the game despite tremendous foul trouble. Chattanooga forced 16 Western Carolina turnovers in the first 20 minutes and held WCU to just one field goal over the last 12:35 to lead 43-23 at the break.

The Catamounts got as close as 12 points about five minutes into the second half, but UTC answered and built the cushion back to 20 points on several occasions. Three Lady Mocs fouled out, which allowed Western Carolina to hang around.

The Cats were led by Yoneko Allen with a career-high 19 points and Jennifer Gardner with 16. Tiffany Hamm led the team with eight rebounds, while adding eight points for the night. Christy Blackwell moved ahead in the WCU record books again this year as she posted a steal in the game to push ahead of Catamount great Roxanne Williams for ninth place on the school?s career steals list with 177. The Lady Cats shot 37.7 percent from the field and matched UTC?s rebound total at 42.

Tiffani Roberson had 11 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals. Shamya Sermons just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine boards. UTC had a horrific night on 3-pointers, making just 5-of-26, but it was 25-for-44 (56.8 percent) on 2?s and 15-for-18 at the free throw line.

Western Carolina returns to action Saturday, Jan. 11, at the College of Charleston. Tip-off is set for 3:00 pm. Chattanooga hits the road again Saturday with a 6:00 pm., date at Davidson College.