Hamilton Reporter

Raven Thompson put up career numbers Saturday evening at Samford to lead the Chattanooga women's basketball team to a 60-55 Southern Conference win at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Chattanooga improves to 15-10 overall and 7-3 in SoCon play, pushing Samford out of the top spot, while the Bulldogs even their record at 13-13 and move to 7-4 in league play, just one half game out of first.
 
Thompson led all scorers with 23 points, matching her career-high while also moving into the Top 10 at UTC for free throws made in a season with 112. She is just eight away from the freshman record set by Katarika Banks (1997-98).
 
Also in double digits was Yazz Wazeerud-Din with 13 points, three steals and a trio of 3-pointers. Addie Grace Porter had eight points and a game-high eight rebounds. She and Wazeerud-Din played all 40 minutes. The pair rank second and third in the nation for minutes played per game.
 
The Mocs looked strong at the start of the game, leading the hosts by a 7-2 margin less than three minutes into the game. However, Samford went on a 15-2 run and led 19-9 at the end of the first quarter.
 
The teams traded places in the second quarter. Chattanooga cut the lead to 20-19 with the first 11 points of the frame then took the lead at the 2:18 mark, getting out front 24-21. Samford outscored UTC 7-3 to close out the half and led by a slim 28-27 at intermission.
 
Thompson started the third quarter with a 3-point play to give UTC the lead, but the game would see four lead changes and five ties in the quarter. Samford closed out the third on a quick layup past the Mocs defense on the left side to lead 44-42 headed into the final 10 minutes.
 
Chattanooga laid into Samford once again. Thompson started the quarter with a 3-pointer giving the Mocs the lead for good. UTC put together a 15-3 run and led 57-47, its largest of the game, with 2:22 to play.
 
The Bulldogs were not done, however. Samford got a 3-point bucket and converted a defensive rebound into another two points and the Mocs lead had dropped to 57-52 with 1:24 remaining. Both teams would add three more points to close out the game.
 
The win moved the Mocs into a tie for first place with Wofford. Both teams are 7-3 headed into the final two weeks of play and will face off next Saturday at the Roundhouse on Senior Day. Before that UTC will host Furman in the Mocs Breast Cancer Awareness game on Thursday.
 
Chattanooga 19-of-50 for the game and shot a season-high 10 3-pointers. Samford outrebounded UTC 34-27 and shot 45.7 percent (21-46) for the night.
 
Sussy Nulefac led the Bulldogs with 20 points and pulled down five rebounds. Masyn Marchbanks had 17 points and five assists while Kathleen Wheeler added nine points and matched UTC's Porter with eight rebounds.
 
FROM THE HEAD COACH | POSTGAME QUOTES
Opening statement
"That was a great win there. We had to have a really big weekend and they came up with two really big wins and in different ways. We've got Furman and Wofford this week. A lot of people are going to talk about Wofford this week, but we've got to take care of business against Furman on Thursday. We talked about we had the opportunity to get into first this weekend. It was in our hands and we've got to grab it. We grabbed it. Now we've got to squeeze."
 
THAT'S SO RAVEN | POSTGAME NOTES
- Raven Thompson scored a career-high tying 23 points for the fourth time this season.
- Moved into 10th place at UTC for free throws made in a single season. She is eight away from the freshman record.
- Made 18 consecutive free throws beginning with her last against UNCG on January 26. She was 1-for-1 against Western Carolina, 8-for-8 against ETSU, 2-for-2 against Mercer and made six straight before missing tonight against Samford. She was 7-of-8 against the Bulldogs. 

Original source can be found here