College of Charleston
Chattanooga
Chattanooga Holds off Late Rally, Knocks off CofC 72-61
2/9/2009 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. ? Erin Ogan led all scorers with 18 points, as Chattanooga fended off a late rally by the College of Charleston to pull away from the Cougars, 72-61 in Southern Conference women's basketball action on Monday at McKenzie Arena.
With the loss, the Cougars fall to 17-7 on the year, 10-6 in the SoCon, while Chattanooga improves to 19-6, 15-1 in the conference.
In the first half, Chattanooga controlled the tempo for most of the period, as they held a 37-29 lead at intermission. Jenaya Wade-Frey led all scorers in the half with 11 points, while Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) scored a team-high five points in the period.
In the second half, it was more of the same, as Chattanooga extended their halftime lead to 14 three minutes into the period. With a little over eight minutes left in the half, the Lady Mocs held a 56-45 lead and looked like they would control for the rest of the period.
It was there that Charleston went on a frantic 10-0 run over the next three and a half minutes. The rally was capped by a Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) layup with 5:36 left to make the score 56-55. After Ogan made a three-pointer to extend the lead to four, Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.) knocked down two free throws to make the score 59-57 with three minutes left.
From then on, Chattanooga would take back control of the game, as they outscored the Cougars 13-4 over the final three minutes to pull away. Chattanooga also salted the game away at the free throw line, as they went 11-12 from the charity stripe in the final minutes.
For the game, Hughes was the leading scorer for the Cougars with 13 points, while Gerty scored seven points and dished out a career-high 10 assists.
The College of Charleston returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 14th when they host Wofford. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
