Lady Mocs heat up late in 66-57 win at UAB - WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WRCB) -- It took awhile for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team to shake off two weeks of rust, but the Lady Mocs finally found their shot.

Ashlen Dewart posted a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds and UTC shot 52-percent from the floor in the second half to pull away from Alabama-Birmingham in a 66-57 road win Wednesday afternoon.

Chattanooga now stands at 9-2 overall after the non-conference portion of their schedule. It will play 18 straight Southern Conference games to close out the regular season.

The Lady Mocs took 13 days off after shooting just 27-percent in a 53-40 loss to Auburn, and those shooting woes continued in the first half against the Blazers (9-4).

UTC made just eight of their 29 shots (27.6-percent) in the opening 20 minutes, including two of their twelve 3-point attempts. But the Blazers struggled, too, shooting just 34.6-percent.

UAB led by as many as seven at 18-11 early on, but could muster just a 28-23 advantage at the break. Dewart scored 15 points in the first half on 5-of-8 shooting to keep the Lady Mocs close.

Chattanooga opened the second half on an 11-5 run and took a 34-33 lead on a 3-pointer by Lambert with 15:58 to play. The teams traded buckets until UTC ripped off a 13-4 run to open a 60-51 advantage with 1:39 to play.

Lambert finished with 10 points, while Tatianna Jackson came off the bench to give the Lady Mocs three players in double figures with 11 points.

UTC went 13-of-25 (52-percent) from the field in the second half, including 4-of-9 behind the 3-point arc, to raise its field goal percentage to 38.9-percent for the game. The Lady Mocs also owned a 43-28 rebounding edge and made ten more free throws than UAB.

Ashley Grimes led the Blazers with 17 points, and Amber Jones added 14 in the loss.