BRIGHT HEAD START
Burrows’ coaching career begins with 61-55 win
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach Katie Burrows knows there will be better wins. Cleaner ones.
But there won’t be another first one. The new head coach guided UTC to her first career win Tuesday night, using a strong defensive effort and relentless inside pressure to defeat Division II Lee University 61-55 at McKenzie Arena. The Mocs have a much tougher challenge Friday, as fifthranked and 2018 national runner-up Louisville comes to Chattanooga.
UTC dominated Tuesday’s game defensively, holding the Lady Flames to 26 percent shooting in the first half in building a nine-point lead. The Lady Flames shot 39 percent for the game, but their 55 points were 35 fewer than they had in their first exhibition game against Reinhardt.
“Our defense in the first three quarters was probably the difference,” UTC sophomore guard Brooke Burns said. “We could have done a lot better in the fourth quarter, but being prepared for what they run the first three quarters is why we won.”
Although the game counted for UTC, it did not for Lee, which will open its regular season Friday in Saint Leo, Florida.
The Mocs weren’t great offensively, but they were effective. Lakelyn Bouldin had 13 points to lead the Mocs, doing most of her damage at the free-throw line where she was 7-for-8. Arianne Whitaker and Burns each scored 10 points, with Whitaker knocking away a team-high four blocks while Burns had seven rebounds and three assists.
Eboni Williams had nine points, while Molly Melton added six with three steals and was a team-high plus11 in her 29 minutes on the court.
The Mocs committed 17 turnovers, but only six came in the second half. They made 17 of 24 free throws — compared to Lee’s four of seven — and outscored the smaller Lady Flames 36-20 in points in the paint.
“We know that Lee is a very good program,” Burrows said. “They are very disciplined. Fortunately, we were a little bit stronger, a little bit quicker, so we were able to get to the rim, and the foul shots proved that. We have goals, and one of the goals is to make more free throws than the opponents take, and we did a really good job of taking advantage of them in that respect.
“We have to move the ball better. The bottom line is we can’t turn the ball over 17 times and expect to win games. Overall a win is a win, but we’ve got to get back down to work to get ready for a very good Louisville team.”
The Mocs used a 10-0 third-quarter run to build a double-digit lead, one they maintained deep into the fourth quarter. The advantage was stretched to 14 before Lee used a 10-0 run of its own to cut the gap to 59-55, but Bouldin was fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws for the final tally.
“The win feels good,” Melton said. “We all love Coach Katie and what she brings to the table — energy, passion, she feels confident in us. It’s really easy as a player when you feel the coach believes in you, so we definitely wanted to get the ‘W’ for her.”
Abby Bertram was the only Lady Flame in double figures. She scored 17 points.