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UTC women set to face Mercer in SoCon final
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team took UNC Greensboro’s success on the offensive glass personally.
Beaten down to the tune of 24 points off 17 offensive rebounds in the last meeting between the two on Feb. 16, UTC’s last loss, the Mocs felt they needed to turn that stat around if they were going to win their Southern Conference tournament semifinal Friday.
They weren’t able to keep the aggressive Spartans off the glass completely, but they were able to minimize the effect.
The Mocs received double-digit scoring performances from Jasmine Joyner, Chelsey Shumpert and Lakelyn Bouldin and won 75-53 to advance to the championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday at the U.S. Cellular Center. UTC (20-10) will face Mercer, which defeated Samford 63-52 in the other semifinal.
UNCG ( 17-14) still held a 38-35 rebounding edge and had 14 offensive rebounds but converted them into only six points. The Mocs had 19 points off 16 Spartans turnovers and 10 second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.
Led by an 11-for-13 fourth quarter,
UTC shot 20- for-23 from the free- throw line while UNCG was 1-for-7.
“I think a lot of people decided it was on them to rebound, not just Jaz,” UTC coach Jim Foster said. “Last time we were there, but we just left Jaz out there to hang, which is not really a good thing. I thought we did a really good job given that Key (Gilbert) wasn’t out there. She’s usually one leading up that area, but I thought we had a good team effort on the glass.”
Gilbert went down with a possible foot injury four minutes into the game and did not return. Foster thinks she’ll be OK to play against Mercer but admitted that “a lot can happen in two days.”
She wasn’t needed against the Spartans. Joyner had her 14th doubledouble of the season, with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. Shumpert finished with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Bouldin had 16 points and three assists.
Aryanna Gilbert helped bring the ball up against UNCG’s pressure and had a solid game with nine points, three assists and four steals.
Nadine Soliman tried to keep the Spartans in the game, scoring a gamehigh 26 points on 11- for21 shooting, but Mangela Ngandjui’s eight was the next- highest total as the rest of the team combined to shoot 28 percent Friday. UNCG’s Te’ja Twitty and Bailey Williams, who combine to average 19.3 points per game, totaled only six, with Williams missing all five of her 3-point attempts.
“We can’t be a one-trick pony,” UNCG coach Trina Patterson said. “We have to have multiple people scoring. When we have three in double figures, we’re much better.
“We needed a couple more to produce offensively.”
The Mocs trailed 7- 4 before Bouldin hit a 3 from the corner and Shumpert followed with a threepoint play as part of a 10-2 run. They led 31-24 at halftime after finishing the period on a 7-3 spurt, then outscored the Spartans 19-8 in the third quarter.
“We stuck to our game plan,” Foster said. “We pressured them better than we had before, identified shooters earlier and moved the ball on offense.
“When we do those things, it makes us a pretty good team.”