Gilberts, Whitaker lead as UTC women beat Spartans
Although the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball players said they weren’t feeling the pressure of coach Jim Foster’s quiet pursuit of 900 wins, Foster isn’t so sure.
With the Mocs getting their elusive 14th win of the season — therefore, Foster’s 900th — on Thursday at Western Carolina, a much freer and looser UTC team stepped on the floor Saturday at UNC Greensboro. At least that’s how it appeared. UTC used a 32-12 second quarter to build a 20-point halftime lead on the Spartans, and the home team never got closer than 12 in a 73-57 Southern Conference win for the visitors.
The Mocs (15-8, 6-3) will face East Tennessee State this Saturday at 2 p.m. in beginning a three-game home stand.
“I thought we played well Thursday,” Foster said by phone Saturday. “It (900 wins) was an underlying theme for a while and it gets in the way. Kids don’t know how to act. It was a first-time experience for them in all probability; people come out of the woodwork to ask questions they don’t know how to answer.”
Keiana Gilbert scored 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting to lead the Mocs. Aryanna Gilbert had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Arianne Whitaker continued her recent solid play, finishing just shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds. In her last three games, the 6-foot-2 sophomore has averaged 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and two blocks.
Bria Dial had eight points, while Lakelyn Bouldin finished with seven and Brooke Burns four.
“Other people are contributing,” Foster said. “We’re getting solid play from the center position, from Keiana at the point. Our 2-guard position (Bouldin and Burns) gave us double figures. Those are the kinds of things you need — when more people are contributing, more are scoring.
“When we have people picking us up like that and now we have more that are capable of doing it now, that’s a good thing.”
Nadine Soliman scored 21 points for UNCG (10-14, 4-5). Te’ja Twitty added 10. The Spartans, who defeated ETSU two days earlier for the Bucs’ second loss in league play, were held to 39 percent shooting.
The Mocs shot 54 percent — 72 percent in the second quarter.
“It takes a while,” Foster said of his team starting to come together. “It’s like the (Philadelphia) Eagles: (Quarterback Carson) Wentz gets hurt, and they struggle, struggle, get by, then all of a sudden something special starts to happen. We’re getting some continuity, some rhythm, and I feel we’re developing, but we’ve had so many injuries, so much sickness that we haven’t had the opportunity. Now we’re in a period of time where the group out there have been practicing together.
“We’ve been all over the place this year because of injury and illness, but to their credit they fought and won some games without all the cylinders going. We’re continuing to evolve and players are continuing to get better.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.