The Alabama women’s basketball team dropped a 72-58 decision to the Chattanooga Lady Mocs on Saturday afternoon at Foster Auditorium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide drops to 5-2 on the season while the win propels the Lady Mocs to 7-2 overall.

“UTC is a very good team,” said Alabama head coach Wendell Hudson. “They beat Tennessee up at their place by 10, so we knew it was going to be a very tough basketball game. You know, there’s no substitute for shooting the basketball. We caused 22 turnovers, and we’re doing a lot of things well but you have to score points in basketball.”

Crimson Tide sophomore Daisha Simmons led the game in scoring with 20 points while senior Alicia Mitcham recorded a team high 10 rebounds and 11 points for her first double-double of the season. Chattanooga was led by junior Ashlen Dewart, who recorded 19 points, and senior Kayla Christopher, who contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.

In the opening minutes of the game, the two teams went basket-for-basket heading into the first media stoppage tied at 7-7. The Lady Mocs came out of the timeout outscoring the Tide 19-3 over the next five minutes of action. Alabama used an 8-0 run later in the half to set the score at 31-23, but Chattanooga responded with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to extend its lead back out to double digits. The Lady Mocs would head into halftime with a 41-27 advantage.

Chattanooga took its largest lead of the game at the 18:47 mark of the second half, pulling ahead by 17. From there, Alabama went on a 16-6 run over the next eight minutes of play, setting the score at 52-45. The Lady Mocs would score 12 of the next 15 points to push the game out of reach for the Tide.

For the game, Chattanooga shot 43.1 percent (28-65) from the floor, including 40 percent (10-25) from three-point range. Alabama was 28.9 percent (22-76) for the game and 22.7 percent (5-22) from beyond the arc. The Lady Mocs also out-rebounded the Tide 57-40.

“The last two games we haven’t shot the ball very well,” added Hudson. “We shot 22-76 today and that was the difference in the game. Look at our percentage and their percentage. Look at our 3-point percentage compared to theirs. Neither team made it to the free throw line very much. They had to out-rebound us because we missed so many shots.”

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