Fouls and turnovers hurt Mocs in narrow road loss
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s quest to clinch a share of the Southern Conference women’s basketball regular-season title fell a game short Saturday, with the Mocs losing 56-54 at UNC Greensboro.
The Mocs entered their game at Fleming Gymnasium knowing they would be the No. 2 seed for the upcoming SoCon tournament in Asheville, North Carolina, by virtue of Wofford (20-8, 10-4) defeating Mercer (12-15, 8-6) earlier in the day, 82-76. However, UTC still could have claimed a share of the title if it had defeated the hot Spartans (15-13, 8-6), who will enter the tournament on a five-game winning streak.
There are no byes in the SoCon women’s eight-team bracket, and UTC (17-12, 9-5) will face seventh-seeded Furman (11-18, 2-12) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center, the third quarterfinal of the day.
Foul trouble played a huge role in Saturday’s outcome for the Mocs, who lost two of their final three regular-season games after winning four in a row to climb up the standings. Addie Porter had three firsthalf fouls and picked up her fourth with 5:21 to play in the third quarter, which limited her to a season-low 29 minutes, only the second time she has played less than 30 this season. UTC veteran Abbey Cornelius had two first-half fouls, as did Takia Davis, which led to some limited lineups.
But the Mocs were hampered more by turnovers, with their 19 leading to 18 UNCG points. UTC struggled on offense the entire game, aside from freshman forward Raven Thompson’s 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting. The rest of the team shot 35% from the field.
UTC was up 13-10 after one quarter, and it was 30-all at halftime before the Mocs carried a 47-43 lead into the fourth. UNGC took the lead for good with a little less than 4 1/2 minutes to play, and although a Cornelius layup with two seconds left cut the Spartans’ advantage to 55-54, the hosts sealed their win at the foul line.
“Down the stretch, we just kind of lost us a little bit,” firstyear UTC coach Shawn Poppie said on the postgame radio broadcast of his team, which went more than 10 minutes of game clock in between baskets in the second half.
“This one hurts a lot. We know what we were playing for, and I know the kids in that locker room wanted it so bad. We were very uncharacteristic — especially early in
the game — and we’re just not ready yet, but it’s part of it. We played uncharacteristic lineups all night because we got in foul trouble. It was just one of those days.”
Yazz Wazeerud-Din finished with 10 points while playing all 40 minutes, while Cornelius finished with eight points and 10 rebounds. Thompson added seven rebounds, and Sigrun Olafsdottir had four assists.
Cornelius, with her 132nd appearance for UTC, became the program’s all-time leader as she passed Jenaya Wade-Fray (2007-10).
Akira Wiggins (14 points, eight assists, four steals) was the lone UNCG scorer in double figures, but Khalis Cain had nine points — including the final one on a free throw — plus seven rebounds and three blocks.