UTC women one step closer to SoCon title
Yazz Wazeerud-Din had battled sickness a bit Thursday afternoon before the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s home game against Furman.
If there were any lingering effects by the evening tipoff at McKenzie Arena, they didn’t show up.
The senior guard connected on a trio of 3-pointers in a 23-point performance, and the Mocs built a 20-point third-quarter lead before holding on for a 70-63 win over the Paladins, improving to 16-10 overall and 8-3 in the Southern Conference.
With Wofford’s 83-45 loss to East Tennessee State on Thursday, the Mocs will enter Saturday’s 7 p.m. home game against Wofford (17-8, 7-4) in sole possession of first in the league standings with three regular-season games remaining. UTC lost 64-51 to the Terriers on Jan. 19 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
UTC freshman Raven Thompson had 11 points against Furman (10-16, 2-9), while Abbey Cornelius scored 11 and fell one rebound shy of a double-double. Furman’s scoring was led by Ella Riggs and Sydney Ryan with 15 points and a trio of 3-pointers apiece.
Thursday’s game was a far cry from the teams’ first meeting this season, when it took two overtimes for the Mocs to pull away from the Paladins for a 51-44 win in Greenville, South Carolina. At McKenzie, UTC had 41 points on nearly 59% shooting in the first 20 minutes, building a 13-point edge.
“The difference between the first game and this one was that we didn’t make shots in the first one,” said WazeerudDin, whose team did shoot a season-low 29.5% at Furman. “But both games we came in with a good mindset. We just faced adversity at their place, but we stayed strong on the defensive end. Here we made shots; we fouled a little bit too much, but we stayed strong and kept making shots and stayed solid on defense.”
A year after the worst season in program history, the Mocs are on the cusp of being the top seed in the SoCon tournament, which starts in two weeks. They can clinch at least a share of their first title since the 2019-20 season with two wins in their final three games, with trips to UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina next week.
“We control our own destiny, and it’s a fun thing,” first-year UTC coach Shawn Poppie said. “Some coaches are scared to talk about it, but I’m not because they’re going to hear it from somewhere. Pressure is a privilege, and we can feel pressure, but it’s a privilege.
“Now we’ve just got to keep being ourselves, and we’ve got a tough game against Wofford. They did a really good job of spreading us out at their place and we’re going to celebrate this thing tonight and get back after it tomorrow and put a good performance together Saturday to hold this thing.”