The Chattanooga women’s basketball team led nearly the entire game on Sunday afternoon, and broke an eight game losing streak by topping the Maine Black Bears 66-61 in the third place game at the Fordham Holiday Classic at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx, NY.
Chattanooga (5-10) came quickly out of the gates taking a 7-0 lead just 2:30 into the game. Maine, playing without an injured Parise Rossignol who was hurt during Saturdays loss to Fordham, would bounce back in this one. The Bears stayed within 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, and 29-26 at the half helped by nine points each from Blanca Millan and Tanesha Sutton.
Millan exploded in the third quarter scoring 14 of Maines 19 points in the 10 minutes, helping an 8-0 run in the period giving the Bears their biggest lead at 44-39. The game was even however at 45-45 headed to the fourth. With the game tied with 3:58 left, the Bears regained the lead on a pair of Sutton free throws at 54-52, before the Mocs ran off 10 unanswered points to take a 62-54 lead. A Millan layup and a three pointer by Maddy McVicar pulled Maine within 62-59 with just over a minute remaining. Two free throws by Chattanooga, a McVicar turnover, and then two more free throws iced the win for the Mocs.
Millan led the way for the 7-6 Black Bears with 25 points and seven rebounds. Sutton added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Shellie Davenport had 13 points, and Eboni Williams added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Mocs. Maine shot just 33 percent from the floor, while Chattanooga was 48 percent.
Maine takes a four game losing streak back home to Bangor on Wednesday night when they host UNH in the America East opener at 7 pm at the Cross Insurance Center.
