The Georgia women’s basketball team was led by its strong guard play Thursday night in a 74-57 win on the road over the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Led by senior Ashley Houts’ 21 points and freshman Jasmine James’ 25, the Lady Dogs turned a 36-33 halftime deficit into a throttling in the second half.

Houts was nothing but stellar in a four-minute span that began with 30 seconds remaining in the first half.

Houts hit a three-pointer going into the half and proceeded to score the first ten points for Georgia to start the second half for a 13-point run of her own.

“That was a point where we really needed that kind of spark and that kind of lift. I think she just invigorated everybody with her play,” head coach Andy Landers said. “When she did that we got better defensively, we got better on the boards, rebounding the ball. She just made us better.”

After coming off her debut performance against Oklahoma, where she scored 15 points and earned the SEC Freshman of the Week, James scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half, connecting on six three-pointers in her first start for the Lady Dogs.

“She isn’t playing as well on [the defensive] end of the floor as she is on the offensive end, so she has something to work on, but she was spectacular in that second half tonight,” Landers said. “She showed a lot of courage and a lot of confidence in stepping up … and making plays for other people. She was very, very good.”

The Lady Mocs of UTC were no pushover for the Lady Dogs, as they are the 10-time defending Southern Conference Champions. After Georgia went up 9-2, the Lady Mocs went on a run, consistently knocking down three-point shots, and getting inside on the Lady Dogs post players. But Georgia settled down and outscored the Mocs 41-21 in the second half.

“We opened the game OK, started off well, then we let it slip away,” Landers said. “We let them get open on some three’s and the big girl inside took us to the house a couple times and … they’ve outplayed us for two-thirds of the first half. But we came out for the second half and played very well.”