Mocs on to semis; will take on ETSU
Whatever choice words University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach Shawn Poppie used during a timeout with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter and his team down eight points in a Southern Conference tournament quarterfinal Thursday in Asheville, North Carolina, he may need to bottle that speech so he can deploy it again.
Second-seeded
UTC trailed seventhseeded Furman 37-29 at the time, and the Paladins’ lead grew to 10 points just moments later. Over the final 12 minutes and 30 seconds, though, the Mocs dominated, outscoring the Paladins 34-15 the rest of the way and winning 63-52 to advance to Friday’s semifinals at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
UTC (18-12) will face No. 3 seed East Tennessee State University (23-8) in the day’s second semifinal, after No. 1 Wofford (21-8) and No. 4 UNC Greensboro (16-13) meet at 11 a.m. ETSU advanced with a 63-47 win against No. 6 Samford, with Wofford winning 71-56 against No. 8 Western Carolina (9-21) and UNCG needing overtime for a 63-59 victory against No. 5 Mercer (12-16).
The Mocs made 10 of their final 14 shots against Furman and finished the game at 41% from the field.
Four UTC players scored in double figures, led by SoCon freshman of the year Raven Thompson’s 17 points and 13 rebounds with four steals. Fellow all-conference selection Yazz Wazeerud-Din scored 16 points — the senior was 5-for-8 from 3-point range — while Abbey Cornelius chipped in 12 with three blocked shots and Addie Porter had 11 to go with five assists and four rebounds.
So what took so long for the Mocs to get going?
“I wish I had the answer to that,” UTC assistant coach Katelyn Grisillo said on the postgame radio broadcast. “I think I can answer why it did happen: You saw a fifthyear Abbey Cornelius step up and
do what she’s capable of and what she offered defensively. It was the look in her eyes that you just don’t want this to end. You see Raven Thompson show why she’s freshman of the year. You see Sigrun (Olafsdottir) get her number called and she answers with a huge 3 in the right corner. You see AG (Porter) being solid.
“You saw why it was able to happen.”
It was the Mocs’ first SoCon tournament win since defeating UNCG in the 2019 quarterfinals, a run that ended in the following round against Furman.
On Thursday, the Paladins led 19-12, 27-24 and 41-36 at the quarter breaks, but UTC went ahead for the first time — and for good — when Porter, set up by a Cornelius steal, was fouled on a fast break and hit two free throws with a little less than seven minutes to play. It came shortly after Porter had the assist on Olafsdottir’s 3 to pull within one.
Furman, paced by Jaelyn Acker (13 points), Grace van Rij (11) and Jada Session (10 with eight rebounds), lost to the Mocs for the third time this season. The Mocs won 51-44 in double overtime on Jan. 21 in Greenville, South Carolina, and 70-63 on Feb. 16 at McKenzie Arena.
UTC will now try to add a third win against ETSU, having beaten the Buccaneers 53-50 on Jan. 5 in Johnson City and 73-62 on Feb. 4 at McKenzie.
Also Friday, the SoCon men’s tournament tips off its 10-team bracket with two games as No. 8 seed Mercer (13-18) faces No. 9 The Citadel (10-21) at 5 p.m., while No. 7 UTC (15-16) and No. 10 Virginia Military Institute (7-24) wrap up the day. Compiled by Gene Henley.