MORRISTOWN, TN -- After falling to a couple of ranked teams to begin the season, Walters State's Lady Senators notched their first victory Wednesday night by thumping visiting Chattanooga State, 70-49, in the opening Tennessee Community College Athletic Association game for both teams.
Coach Jasmin Coleman's Lady Senators used a balanced attack for the win led by Ryann Woodley with 14 points. Germariona Hollingsworth added 12 and Vertonia Bady was also in double figures with 10. Kiera Hill scored nine while Maiya Reed and Matty Tanner tallied seven points apiece.
Tionna Baker scored the Lady Tigers' first 10 points and took game scoring honors with 18. Gla'Mia Letcher chipped in a dozen as Chattanooga State lost for the first time after two victories.
"I'm just happy to have a win," said Coleman. "We're a young team that has to get better as we go along."
The coach said, "I think my freshmen guards played better tonight. We had a lot of people give us some good minutes tonight and that's important. I thought we played hard tonight.
"We made some mistakes and we got behind early but the girls came back and did a good job," Coleman said. "You know, college basketball is sometimes a game of runs and you have to be able to sustain them. I thought one of the biggest things for us was what we did at the start of the second quarter.
"We played good basketball in that stretch and opened our lead," she said. "They made some runs but we came back and had some two. It's just good to get a victory, especially in your first conference game."
The visitors seized a quick 7-2 lead behind the scoring of Baker but Woodley hit back-to-back baskets to tie the count at 7-7. After Baker nailed a three-pointer, Reed put Walters State in front for good and the home team went on to lead 15-13 after the end of the first quarter.
Walters State took control by scoring the first 14 points of the second period for a 29-13 advantage. Hill scored half the points in the run while Hollinsworth had three.
The Lady Tigers chipped at the lead and finally got within eight at 32-24 on a bucket by Kenzia Williams with just under two minutes left in the half. Woodley hit the only basket the rest of the half and the home team led 34-24 at intermission.
Bady sandwiched a field goal around a bucket by Reed as Walters State opened the second half with a 6-2 run to open the lead to 40-26. After Letcher scored for the visitors, the Lady Senators got a three from Bady, a bucket from Woodley and two free throws by Bady for a 47-28 lead with 3:46 left in the third.
A seven-point run featuring a three by Tanner pushed the lead to 54-30. Chattanooga scored the last two points of the third and the first eight of the fourth to close within 14. But Hollingsworth and Woodley scored to make it 58-42.
It was mostly free throws down the stretch as the Lady Senators hit one of two from the line on five straight trips.
Hollingsworth had three and Tanner grabbed a rebound and scored for the only field goals in the final 5:06.
Walters State hit 26 of 57 from the floor for 45.6 percent and connected on 3 of 11 three-point tries. The Lady Senators struggled at the free throw line, making only 15 of 30 but had a healthy 44-24 rebounding edge led by Woodley and Hollingsworth with seven each.
The Lady Tigers finished 17 of 56 from the floor for 30.4 percent and 3 of 13 behind the arc. Letcher grabbed 10 rebounds for the losers.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics