Jan. 23, 2010

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jenaya Wade-Fray scored 15 points and claimed 10 rebounds to lift Chattanooga to a 58-52 victory over Furman in Southern Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.

Wade-Fray scored 11 of her 15 points in the second period to help Chattanooga (14-6, 9-2 SoCon) emerge from a sluggish first half en route to its ninth straight victory and 18th consecutive triumph over Furman (6-14, 4-7 SoCon).

Kayla Christopher added 13 points for the Mocs, who attempted 15 more shots than Furman (56-41) and claimed a 38-27 rebounding advantage.

Ayanna Randolph tallied a career high 12 points for the Paladins and was joined in double figures by three others, including Lakyn Ledford with 11 and Lee Stephens and Raegan Thompson with 10 each.

Cold shooting by both teams led to a low scoring first half and 19-12 Chattanooga lead at intermission.

UTC opened the second period by connecting on three consecutive 3-point attempts, including a pair by Kayla Christopher and one by Wade-Fray with 17:14 on the clock, to spark a 9-2 spurt that doubled the Mocs' advantage, 28-14.

Furman responded with layups by Ledford and Kelly O'Connor to make it 28-18 before Chattanooga's Tenisha Townsend's back-to-back 3-pointers helped fashion a 21-8 run over a nine-minute span that put the Mocs in total control, 49-26, with six minutes to go.

Four baskets by Thompson over the final two minutes helped the Paladins erase a 55-37 deficit for the game's final six-point margin.

After connecting on just 22.2 percent of its shots in the first half (4x18), Furman buried 14-of-24 shots (60.9 percent) in the second half to finish the game at a 43.9 percent clip.

Chattanooga, meanwhile, drained 12-of-24 field goal attempts (50.0 percent), including 7-of-12 3-pointers, over the game's final 20 minutes. The Mocs shot 37.5 percent for the game.

Furman entertains Samford on Monday in a 5:00 p.m. game.