UTC Women Rally Past Austin Peay, 76-65

In post-game comments UTC sophomore Jasmine Joyner said the Mocs “needed to get tougher when we trailed (Austin Peay by nine) in the second half.”

And tougher they got as the Gilbert sisters – Aryanna and Keiana -  on offense and Red Payne and Chelsey Shumpert on defense sparked a comeback for a 76-65 non-conference women’s basketball win at McKenzie Arena before an announced crowd of 1,594.

In a tale of two halves, Austin Peay (1-3) came out hot, hitting six of its first 10 shots from the field for a 13-3 lead at 13:49 led by Tiasha Gray’s six points.

UTC (3-2) went on a 17-5 run of its own and took its first lead at 20-18 on a layup by Keiana Gilbert. But the lead was short lived as the Lady Governors closed out the half on a 17-8 run and led 35-28 at intermission.

“We thought they would just hand us the ball because of the name (Chattanooga) on the front of our jersey, but that wasn’t going to happen,” said Joyner who had her second double-double (15 pts, 13 rebs) of the season.

“But we knew we had to get tougher (to win).”

UTC coach Jim Foster stated," No one is going to hand us the game at this point because of the name on the front of our jersey."

Leading by nine at 45-36 at 14:25, the Lady Govs 6-3 post player Tearra Banks (19 points on the night) had to leave the game for three plus minutes due to knee injury and the Mocs went on a 22-0 run to lead 58-45 at 9:06 and finished winning by 11.

Tearra Banks is helped off the court.

Banks re-entered the game at 10:51, but did not score again (2 free throws) until the Mocs led by 11 at 64-53.

In the 22-0 run, Payne and Shumpert combined for six steals and three assists, while the Gilbert’s –  Aryanna (8) and Keiana (4) - combined for 12 points.

“We had to up the tempo on defense and played aggressive in the second half which is a reflection of who we are,” said UTC coach Jim Foster.

Credit to AP: “Austin Peay has five players who can score so you have to give them credit as they played well tonight,” Foster said.

Tough Schedule: “Our schedule won that game tonight,” coach Foster stated referring to games against Villanova (1-2, Big East), Butler (1-4, Big East), No.2 Notre Dame (5-0, ACC) and South Florida, 3-1 American Athletic Conf.).

“Without those tough games (the last nine days), we might not have had the where withal to come back in the second half.”

Schedule Gets Tougher: No.4 Tennessee (4-0) comes to town Wednesday at 7 p.m. … “I scheduled a day in between these two home games with a purpose since the Southern Conference tourney is set up the same way.”

UT has won eight on a row regular season games (and 14 of 15) over two seasons.

UTC beat the Lady Vols, 80-71, in McKenzie Arena, Nov. 19, 2012.

The Mocs schedule shows six more sets of “a day off between games” prior to the SoCon tourney in early March.

UTC Accolades: Jasmine Joyner (15 pts, 13 rebs, 4 blocks) Keiana Gilbert (13 pts., 12 rebs), 6 assists, 4 steals … “she had an all-time game and filled the stat sheet” said coach Foster

Aryanna Gilbert( 26 pts, 8 rebs), Chelsey Shumpert (13 pts)

Austin Peay Accolades: Tearra Banks (19 pts, 7 rebs), Kristen Stainback (21 pts, 6 rebs), Tiasha Gray (13 pts, 3 steals)

Chattanooga 76, Austin Peay 65

AP 35 – 30 – 65

UTC 28 – 48 – 76

Records: UTC (3-2), Austin Peay (1-3)

Stats:

Most Points in a Half This Season by UTC – 48 in the second half

FG%   UTC (44.1%, 30-68)  AP (41.0%, 25-61)

FT%: UTC (58.3%, 14-24), AP (66.7%, 12-18)

Points in the Paint: UTC, 54-32

Points off Turnovers: UTC, 25-14

2nd Chance Points: UTC, 18-9

Bench: UTC, 34-9

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net