Hood, Tucker lead Lady Mocs past Spartans

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Capriee Tucker was an offensive force in the paint during the first half Saturday while filling in for Whitney Hood, who picked up two quick fouls.

Hood then came back and dominated the second half of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's 65-53 Southern Conference women's basketball win over UNC Greensboro.

Hood, the conference's leading scorer, finished with 18 points in 20 minutes of play. Tucker scored a career-high 14 points in 16 minutes, nearly all of those coming in the first half after Hood went to the bench with two fouls at the 16:15 mark.

Tucker came in averaging 1.5 points and 5.1 minutes per game, but the 6-foot-1 forward went 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line.

"We probably wouldn't have won this game without Capriee Tucker," Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said. "I always tell players that maybe aren't playing as much as they would like to stay ready, so when their number's called they're in a position to take advantage of it. She did that, big time."

Thanks to Tucker's 12 first-half points, and the Lady Mocs' 13-for-19 shooting, UTC (14-13, 11-7 SoCon) led 34-30 at the break. The Lady Mocs scored the first 12 points of the second half as the Spartans (13-13, 10-8) were held scoreless for more the six minutes.

UTC kept rolling and led 60-41 with 5:11 to play before the Spartans closed the gap in the closing minutes. Tenisha Townsend scored 11 points for UTC, Kayla Christopher added 10 and Taylor Hall had 10.

The Lady Mocs' win, combined with Samford's 83-80 win at Elon, puts UTC and Elon in a tie for third in the SoCon standings. The two teams meet Monday night at Elon.

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