College of Charleston
Chattanooga
Cougars Suffer First League Loss in 64-53 Decision to Mocs
1/3/2010 2:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Chattanooga held the College of Charleston women's basketball team to its second-lowest rebound total of the season en route to the 64-53 win in front of 1,846 fans tonight in McKenzie Arena.
Charleston dropped its first Southern Conference game of the season and snapped a five-game winning streak to go to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in the league. Chattanooga improved to 9-6 and 4-2.
Chattanooga outscored CofC 27-11 in the opening 15 minutes of the game before the Cougars used a 13-4 run to cut the margin to seven and trailed 31-24 with 1:11 remaining. Chattanooga scored with 47 seconds to go and went into the locker room leading by nine, 33-24.
The Mocs opened the second half the same as the first and built a 16-point, 55-39 lead with 7:07 remaining. The Cougars went on a 12-3 run, sparked by five points from Ericka Williams (Blackville, S.C.) and Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.), to cut the margin to seven and trailed 58-51 with 2:54 to go.
Despite Chattanooga going without a field goal in the last four-and-a-half minutes of the game, the Mocs went six-for-six from the free throw line to hold the Cougars from getting any closer than seven and took the 64-53 win.
Charleston shot 36.7 percent from the field for the game and was led by Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) with 18 points. Gerty and Williams followed with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.) and Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) paced the team in rebounds with five each.
The Cougars were outrebounded, 44-28, but had five less turnovers, 12-17. The only other time Charleston had this few rebounds was 25 at Coastal Carolina. Hughes connected on five of the team's seven three-pointers, just one shy of her career mark.
The Mocs held a 47.3 field goal percentage and were led by Jenaya Wade-Fray with 14 points and eight rebounds. Shanara Hollingquest followed with 13 points and eight boards as well. Chattanooga was just four-of-21 from beyond the three-point arc.
The Cougars are next in action when they travel to Samford Monday, Jan. 4 for a 7 p.m. game.
