CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team got off to a sluggish start Monday night, but rallied back to snag a 76-65 win over Austin Peay Monday night at the McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs were just 1-of-10 from the field and 1-of-4 from the free throw line in the first 6:11 of the game, trailing 13-3. However, a 19-5 run over the next 6:31 put Chattanooga out front 22-18 with 5:59 to play in the opening frame. Austin Peay outscored UTC 17-6 over the remainder of the half and led 35-28 at intermission.
The Lady Govs maintained their lead through the start of the second half and led UTC 45-36 with 14:25 left in the game. The tide would turn and the Mocs went on a 22-0 run and led 58-45 with 9:06 to play.
Sophomore Aryanna Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) who started the game on the bench, sparked the run with six straight points and scored eight of her game-high 26 in the spate, while her sister, freshman Keiana Gilbert (Columbia, Tenn.) closed it with a jumper.
The pair combined for 39 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and three blocked shots.
Aryanna Gilbert had a career-high for points (26) as well as rebounds with eight. She was 13-of-17 from the field and grabbed six offensive boards. Keiana Gilbert recorded her first double-double scoring 13 points and had career-highs for rebounds with 12, assists with six, four steals and matched her best for blocks with two.
Sophomore Jasmine Joyner (Southaven, Tenn.) recorded her second double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds and added in four blocked shots to give her 73 for her career. She is four behind Taylor Hall (2010-14) for third all-time at UTC.
Sophomore Chelsey Shumpert (Paducah, Ky.) posted her third straight double-figure game with a season-high 13 points in 21 minutes while junior Alicia Payne (Memphis, Tenn.) was 4-of-6 from the free throw line with five assists and five steals.
Austin Peay led by as much as 10 points in the game and with 14:25 made a pair of free throws from Sydney Gooch to go up 45-36. The Mocs had a pair of turnovers over the next 56 seconds before a defensive rebound by Joyner resulted in a fastbreak layup from Aryanna Gilbert to make it 54-38.
In the next offensive series for Austin Peay, Keiana Gilbert blocked a Jennifer Nwokocha layup and Payne snared the steal, feeding it forward to Aryanna for another fastbreak layup to make it a five point game (45-40) at the 12:56 mark. A block by Joyner and a steal by Shumpert led to Aryanna Gilbert's sixth point in the run to cut it to three.
Payne connected on one of two free throws to make it a two-point game and Gilbert tied it up 45-45 with 11:55 to play. Shumpert forced a turnover and converted the steal into a fastbreak layup to give Chattanooga the lead for good, 47-45 with 11:26 to play.
The Mocs outscored the Lady Govs 54-32 in the paint and had an 18-4 advantage on fastbreak points. With Aryanna Gilbert leading the way, Chattanooga's bench produced 34 points compared to APSU's nine. Chattanooga converted 20 turnovers into 25 points while the Lady Govs had 14 points off 13 Chattanooga mistakes.
Austin Peay had three players in double figures with Kristen Stainback leading the way with 21. Tearra Banks put up 19 points and had seven rebounds while Tiasha Gray had 13 points and a team-best three steals.
The Mocs improve to 3-2 overall while Austin Peay drops to 1-3 on the year. Chattanooga had a season-high for steals with 14, matched its season-best for assists with 20 and had a season-high eight blocked shots for a second straight game.
Chattanooga will host No. 4 Tennessee Wednesday night at the Roundhouse. Check GoMocs.com for tickets. All seats will be reserved for this game. The contest will tip at 7 p.m. and gates will open at 6 p.m.