Loss is Mocs’ first in SoCon

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team did a lot of things right in Thursday night’s Southern Conference firstplace showdown with Mercer.

However, 40 minutes of poor shooting and rebounding doomed the Mocs to a 65-58 loss in Macon, Georgia.

The Bears (12-7, 4-0) outshot the Mocs 43 percent to 35 percent and used a 50-31 rebounding edge to get off five more shots. Mercer senior Amanda Thompson had a game-high 16 rebounds, and sophomore guard Shannon Titus had a season-high 24 points.

UTC (8-11, 3-1), which had a season-low six turnovers, was led by freshman Mya Long’s 14 points, part of her team’s 39-6 bench scoring edge. Lakelyn Bouldin and Eboni Williams, the Mocs’ leading scorers this season — entering Thursday, Bouldin had averaged 12.9

points per game and Williams 8.4 — were held to a combined nine points, and the team was just 11-for-20 on free throws.

The UTC bench led a third-quarter rally that cut Mercer’s lead from 11 points to four. The final three minutes of the period were frustrating for the Mocs, who missed four free throws, had a layup and a short jump shot bounce off and committed a turnover to trail by seven entering the final quarter.

Coach Katie Burrows’ team rallied in the fourth, cutting Mercer’s lead to two when Williams stole the ball and made a layup with 8:01 remaining. The Bears answered with back-to-back jumpers by Linnea Rosendale to start an 8-0 run, and the Mocs got no closer than four the rest of the way.

Keke Calloway added 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Bears.

UTC’s Arianne Whitaker had six blocked shots to go with nine points, and Long grabbed a game-high four steals.

The Mocs return to competition Saturday at Samford, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. Eastern in Birmingham, Alabama.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @ youngsports22.