Laura Murray

Chattanooga opened a lead midway through the game then held off a late Davidson rally to win, 60-56, in a women’s basketball game Friday night at Belk Arena. It was the Wildcats’  first Southern Conference loss of the season, but came with a big milestone, as Davidson junior Laura Murray reached 1,000 points for her career.

Murray had nine points, and became the 16th Wildcat in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Sophia Aleksandravicius led Davidson (8-8, 5-1 SoCon) with 16 points, hitting 8-of-12 shots and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.

The Wildcats saw their eight-game home win streak come to an end, dating back to last season, while their six-game league win streak also ended. They also had their seven-game home SoCon win streak halted.

Kylie Lambert and Kayla Christopher led four Mocs in double figures with 12 points each. Alex Black and Faith Dupree both finished with 11 points.

Trailing by as many as 12 (43-31) with 14:16 remaining, Davidson took advantage of a lengthy Mocs’ scoring drought with 11 unanswered to cut the deficit to one, 43-42. Christopher responded with eight straight points as Chattanooga (13-3, 6-1 SoCon) extended its margin back to eight, 55-47, with just over 3:10 to play.

A 3-pointer and layup in consecutive trips by Katrin Chiemeka sparked an 8-0 spurt to get the ‘Cats to within one again, 55-54. Following an empty trip by Chattanooga, Chiemeka was fouled while driving to the basket with 50 seconds to go, but missed both free throws, the last one going down and then rattling out, and Davidson was unable to get closer.

Davidson finished at 43 percent, while the Mocs shot 42 percent, but drilled an impressive 7-of-13 attempts from long range.

After Murray gave Davidson a 25-21 lead with her 1,000th career point at the 5:19 mark of the opening period, the Lady Mocs closed the frame on a 14-2 run highlighted by four of their five first-half treys to take a 35-27 advantage into the half.

The Wildcats led by as many as six in the first 20 minutes of action, before Chattanooga found its touch from long range connecting on 5-of-7 (.714). The first half featured seven ties and three lead changes.

The Wildcats will finish out playing three games in a six-day span, with a matchup against Samford Sunday at 2 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Despite the defeat, Davidson has won 17 of its last 20 SoCon games … the Wildcats’ suffered their first loss in the month of January … its was the sixth straight year a Wildcat reached the 1,000-point mark.

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