ATHENS, Tenn.— In its first matchup of the new year, the Montreat women's basketball team traveled to Tennessee to face the Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs Tuesday evening. A tough matchup went the way of the home team as the Bulldogs took the battle by a 66-40 scoreline, dropping the Cavaliers to 8-5 overall and 6-5 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play.
 
TWU (8-4, 6-4 AAC) used turnovers to create scoring chances early as the Bulldogs made a pair of layups in transition and connected on their initial five tries from the field to lead 10-0. Despite points from five Cavaliers, Tennessee Wesleyan continued to make shots, eventually going 12-for-20 in the first frame to go up 27-12 after one.
 
As high scoring as the first quarter was, the second period lacked offense. Montreat failed to score for the opening 7:23 of the frame, while miscues gave the Bulldogs extra opportunities. TWU outscored the Cavs 10-4 over the 10-minute span, capitalizing on 14 first-half turnovers by the visiting team to tally 17 points en route to a 37-16 halftime advantage.
 
Chesnee Freeman led the way for the Cavaliers as she notched six points off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting. Five other Cavs scored two points, and Makayla Thompson collected a team-best six rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. Outside of Freeman, Montreat made four of its 21 attempts overall to shoot 28.0 percent (7-25 FG) including an 0-for-8 performance from deep. The Bulldogs cooled in the second quarter, but still made 48.5 percent (16-33 FG) of their tries and two of 13 shots from three (15.4 percent) in the first half.
 
The first portion of the third quarter featured back-and-forth play as each team netted baskets. After TWU expanded its edge to as many as 24 (40-16), the Cavaliers made a run thanks to six forced turnovers. The Cavs turned those mistakes into six points to trim the deficit to 19 (46-27) midway through the third. Following a pair of Cavalier free throws and two makes from Tennessee Wesleyan, the Bulldogs led 51-29 with 10 minutes remaining.
 
Montreat doubled up the Bulldogs with an 8-4 scoring stretch to start the final frame; however, the home side controlled the remainder of the contest, closing the game on an 11-3 run to lead by and win by its largest margin of the competition (26).
 
TWU held advantages in shooting both overall and from deep, making 43.8 percent (28-64 FG) of its attempts to the Cavs' 25.9 percent (14-54 FG), as well as five of 28 threes (17.9 percent) compared to Montreat's 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) performance from beyond the arc. The home team grabbed one more rebound (35-34), forced eight more turnovers (19-11) and dominated scoring in the paint (28-12), while the Cavaliers converted at a better rate from the charity stripe (9-11 FT to 5-8 FT).
 
Mariya Williams made all five of her free throws to lead the team with nine points. Adrianna Gullette and Vaniyah Petty each added seven. Thompson ended with a squad-best seven boards.

"It was a tough one tonight. TWU played really well. We got off to a slow start and that's hard, especially on the road," noted head coach Josh Thompson.
 
Women's basketball returns home for a matchup with Carolina University on Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m.