UNC Greensboro Knocks Off the Lady Mocs For First Time Since 2007

(gomocs.com) GREENSBORO, N.C. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga suffered a setback Thursday night with a 75-72 overtime loss to UNCG in Southern Conference women’s basketball action at Fleming Gym.

The loss was the Mocs first to the Spartans since 2007, snapping UTC’s 23 game win streak against UNCG.

“They were a hungry basketball team,” Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster said. “They outworked us in my opinion.”

Chattanooga started out the fourth quarter with a 54-50 lead and stretched it to nine points with 8:01 to play. The Spartans answered with a 15-2 run to take a 65-61 lead with 2:30 to play in the game.

UTC freshman Lakelyn Bouldin was fouled as she shot a three and drained all three free throws to get Chattanooga to within a point, 64-65, with 2:15 remaining. Chattanooga forced a turnover and junior Chelsey Shumpert’s 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining put the Mocs up front 67-65.

On the Spartans’ next possession, Joyner got back-to-back blocks to but a UTC foul on the ensuing inbounds play put Shanese Harris at the line. She hit both free throws to tie the game, but UTC still had 21.5 seconds on the clock and the ball on its end of the floor.

However, a turnover by Chattanooga gave the ball back to UNCG with 18 seconds to play. The Spartans missed two attempts and Shumpert’s last second heave from near half court hit the front of the rim and the Mocs and Spartans headed into just their second overtime in the series.

UNCG started overtime on a 7-0 run and led 74-67 with 3:01 to play. Chattanooga cut the lead to 74-72 on a 3-pointer from junior Keiana Gilbert with 12 seconds remaining.

The Mocs put Alexis Pitchford at the line and she would hit the first of her two free throws, making it 75-72 with seven seconds to play. UTC called its final timeout to advance the ball, but would miss both 3-point attempts as time ran out.

“When you work so hard to come up with a quality shot and you get to a spot where you have a quality shot, you have to take it,” Foster said. “We have some players who won’t pull the trigger when they need to.”

Chattanooga falls to 15-10 overall and 9-2 in conference play, falling half a game behind Mercer who beat Wofford tonight to improve to 10-2. UTC has three games remaining while the Bears have just two. UNCG improves to 15-12 on the year and 6-6 in the SoCon.

Senior Jasmine Joyner recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds, both game-highs. She had four blocked shots, three steals and two assists while shooting 9-of-15 from the field and was one of four Mocs in double figures.

Bouldin was 7-of-7 from the free throw line with 15 points and four rebounds. Shumpert, with three 3-pointers, had 13 points and four rebounds. Gilbert chipped in 10 points and five rebounds with two blocked shots, two steals and a pair of assists.

Chattanooga edged the Spartans 30-26 in the paint and UNCG, with 17 offensive rebounds, had 24 second chance points. The Spartans outrebounded UTC 41-34 and got 19 points from their bench compared to 11 for the Mocs.

Te’ja Twitty had a double-double for UNCG with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Alexis Pitchford had 13 points, making 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Bailey Williams hit both of her 3-point attempts for 12 points and six rebounds.

Joyner has 900 career rebounds and becomes just the fourth UTC player to have 900 rebounds and more than 1,000 points. Shumpert moved to seventh on the Mocs all-time list for 3-pointers with 149.

Chattanooga will close out the road portion of its schedule Saturday afternoon at Western Carolina. The game is set to tip at 2 p.m. at the Ramsey Center.