UTC women keep on rolling in SoCon
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach Katie Burrows figured Western Carolina couldn’t stay hot from 3-point range all night. She was also glad to see her players do their part to make sure the Catamounts cooled down.
Western Carolina made six 3-pointers in the first half of Thursday’s Southern Conference game at McKenzie Arena, but the Mocs overcame the early surge, limiting the Catamounts to 18 second-half points in a 55-48 win for UTC.
The Mocs (5-14, 3-1 SoCon) shot 52% from the field in the second half while limiting the Catamounts (6-13, 0-5) to 23% in the same span. The visitors went 2-for-9 from 3-point range after halftime; of their 27 shots in the first half, 15 had come from behind the arc.
Burrows believed Western Carolina’s shooting would eventually come back to earth “based on the numbers, so we played the odds there, and they in fact did. I thought our kids did a much better job in the second half of getting a tighter hand up on those shooters, and just switching higher and getting them out of position a little bit so it wasn’t as easy of a shot for them.”
UTC’s Abbey Cornelius had game highs with 17 points and 16 rebounds, and she also had four assists and three blocks. Brooke Hampel added 12 points and Amaria Pugh chipped in 11, with a 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining giving UTC a five-point edge and giving the second-year Moc 1,002 collegiate points in a career that has included stops at NAIA program Freed-Hardeman and Dyersburg State Community College. The Mocs were outrebounded 35-31 but outscored the Catamounts in the paint 26-12.
UTC, which has won three straight after losing 12 of its previous 13, will host UNC Greensboro (5-11, 1-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s nice to get a little streak going,” Cornelius said, adding that “it’s always important to protect your home court.”