UTC women undone late in loss to Racers

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team led by as much as seven points in the fourth quarter Saturday night at Murray State.

That lead, however, didn’t last long as the Racers rallied for a 59-56 win.

Freshman Raven Thompson, with a career-high 15 points, led four scorers in double figures for UTC (2-3). Abbey Cornelius added 14, with Yazz Wazeerrud-Din dropping in 12 and Addie Grace Porter chipping 11.

UTC entered the fourth quarter up 40-38 and scored the period’s first five points as Porter drained a 3 and Thompson hit a layup with 8:29 to play.

Murray State (2-1) responded with a 7-0 run over the next minute and a half to tie the game. Porter gave the Mocs a 47-45 lead on the next possession, but Murray State’s Katelyn Young tied it moments later. Cornelius hit a layup to put UTC up 49-47 at the midway mark of the quarter, but it would be the team’s last lead.

Macey Turley and Young hit back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the Racers’ edge to 53-49 with just more than four minutes to play. The Mocs got within one late but hit just two shots in the final three minutes.

“We’ve got to find a way to finish,” first-year UTC coach Shawn Poppie said. “We’ve been here now three times and just haven’t closed the deal and so, you know, I have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how I can help them finish these things.”

Young led Murray State with 18 points, with Turley adding 15 plus six rebounds and four assists.

UTC’s Cornelius grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots, and Thompson added six boards. The Mocs, though, committed 19 turnovers that led to 17 Murray State points

“Yeah, it is the problem,” Poppie said of the turnovers. “The reality is we just lose it. I don’t know how else to describe it besides we lose them. We’re turning it over way too much.

“I mean, they’re playing super, super hard and we’re not playing a bunch of bodies because again, I’ve kind of made my mind up and I told them this: I’m putting people out there that I trust that are going to try to compete their tails off and make mistakes with good intent. And when I mean intent, they’re trying to do it the way we’re asked to do it and that’s what this group is doing.”

UTC hosts Kennesaw State at 7 p.m. Monday.