Thursday's Women's Basketball Roundup

Photo Credit: Carlos Morales

UNCG 64, ETSU 43

The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) women's basketball team's dominating fourth quarter run propelled the squad past ETSU, 64-43 on Thursday night to begin The Southern Conference (SoCon) schedule in Fleming Gymnasium. With her 14 points tonight, Jayde Gamble tallied her 1,000th career point coming at the free throw line at 1:29 in the fourth quarter. 659 of those points came at UNCG, while 341 were achieved in her first two seasons at UNC Wilmington.
 
East Tennessee State University women's basketball was doomed by a poor fourth quarter and fell 64-43 to UNCG on Thursday. 5th year guard Courtney Moore led ETSU (9-7, 0-1) with ten points. Moore was the only Buccaneer to score in double digits against the Spartans (10-5, 1-0). The two squads, both of which ranked in the top 25 nationally in scoring defense entering tonight's contest (UNCG 5th, ETSU 22nd) flexed their defensive acumen early, with each side making only one field goal in the first five minutes.

Chattanooga 67, Western Carolina 56

Chattanooga women's basketball opened a new year and a new SoCon season with a bang on Thursday night in Cullowhee, as the Mocs fought their way to a 67-56 road victory over Western Carolina. The Mocs (6-8, 1-0 SoCon) found themselves in a dogfight with the Catamounts (10-6, 0-1 SoCon) for a majority of the night at the Ramsey Center, but it was a career night from Caia Elisaldez that proved the difference for UTC as the sophomore's career-high 21 points helped guide the Mocs to a double-digit win in the long run.

A fourth quarter run over the final five minutes of regulation allowed the league's defending champion Chattanooga Mocs to escape Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center with a hard-fought 67-56 victory over Western Carolina on Thursday evening in the Southern Conference women's basketball opener for both squads. WCU's Chelsea Wooten sank a 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Catamounts ahead by one, 50-49, with 5:12 to play in the final frame. However, UTC guard Caia Elisaldelz converted a layup 16 seconds later to propel the Mocs to the lead and started the run to the finish.