In an early Dec. 8 matchup between sister schools UTM and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the Skyhawks prevailed in a 78-51 victory over the Mocs thanks to a stout defense and the efforts of junior forward Chelsey Perry.
Along with Perry, the Skyhawks went with a starting lineup including sophomore guard/forward Damiah Griffin, junior forwards Demi Burdick and Maddie Waldrop, and sophomore guard Kyannah Grant.
Perry was the Skyhawks’ workhorse on both sides of the ball. The forward led the team in points (24), tied for first on the team in rebounds (two offense, six defensive) and assists (4), in addition to leading the team in steals (3).
Griffin contributed greatly as well, scoring 19 points of her own and recording eight rebounds (2-6). Perry and Griffin accounted for 43 of UTM’s 78 points, roughly 55%. The only other UTM player to score in double digits was freshman forward Dasia Young, who ranked third in team scoring with 12.
The Skyhawks fired on all cylinders to start the match. Offensively, UTM was only outshot on free-throws. The Mocs, who had double the attempts, scored on 10 of their 12 free-throws for 83.3%.
Perry was the only player on either side to score in the double digits in the first half, putting up 11 points. Defensively, the Skyhawks limited the Mocs to 26 points in the first, with UTC’s Bria Dial leading the team with eight points.
UTM’s stingy defense held up in the second half as well, limiting the Mocs to only 25 points in the second and preventing any UTC player to score in the double digits in a given half.
The Skyhawks capitalized on their halftime lead of 37-26, putting up another 41 points to seal the victory. UTM’s dominance in points off of turnovers, bench production and play in the paint played a large role in the Skyhawks’ victory.
On points off of turnovers, the Skyhawks more than tripled what UTC did in this category; UTM had 29 points to UTC’s 9. This margin was almost repeated in bench production, as UTM had 28 bench points to UTC’s 9. In the paint, the Skyhawks outscored the Mocs 40-10.
Despite UTM’s dominance in several major statistics and on the scoreboard, things didn’t start off that great for the Skyhawks early in the first quarter. The Mocs started the game off with a 12-0 lead over the Skyhawks, which grew to an even larger 17-2 lead.
The first quarter wasn’t kind to UTM, as the Skyhawks trailed 17-7 at the end. A UTM fast break led by Griffin midway through the second quarter evened out the score 17-all. The Mocs were held to a mere nine points in the second quarter, as the Skyhawks went on a 35-9 run and never relinquished the lead.
“It was nice to get a win when you consider the way we did it,” head coach Kevin McMillan said, according to Sports Information. “We started out really flat trying to build upon the way we played at Southern Illinois and then had to completely change our gameplan. We started pressing which made our effort turn around and we started playing hard. We are going to have to figure out a way to play harder than our opponent and for three quarters, we did that today.”
The Skyhawks will resume play Dec. 16 with a home matchup against in-state opponent Lipscomb University.
Statistics provided courtesy of Sports Information.
Photo Credit / Sports Information
