UTC Women Suffer Heartbreaking 70-63 OT Loss to Furman in SoCon Tourney

(gomocs.com)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The tears flowed freely inside the Chattanooga locker room following the Mocs 70-63 overtime loss to Furman in the quarterfinal round of the 2022 Ingles Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

“It’s the finality of it all, the relationships that have been built,” Mocs head coach Katie Burrows said. “We have one senior leaving [Pare Pene] and the one thing she said was how, selfishly, she didn’t want this to end. Not because of the accolades but because she wanted to spend more time with the people in that room”

It looked like it wasn’t going to end Thursday night at the start of the game. The Mocs shot 8-of-14 in the opening frame and 4-of-7 from deep to take a 20-9 lead on the Paladins after the first 10 minutes.

Furman struggled from the field, making just 3-of-13 (23.1%) in the period. The second saw the Paladins close the gap, cutting the Mocs lead to 30-24 at the half. Furman edged the Chattanooga in the third and outscored UTC 18-13 in the final quarter of regulation to tie it up and head to overtime.

The Paladins cut into Chattanooga’s lead in the third quarter behind a 10-point effort from Tate Walters, taking UTC’s six-point lead to five, 47-42 headed into the fourth.

The fourth started on an 8-0 run by Furman behind six free throws for the Paladins for their first lead of the game, 50-47, with 6:58 on the clock.

The No. 6 seeded Mocs retook the lead on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Mocs’ center Abbey Cornelius. Hampel hammered it home with a 3-pointer from the corner to put UTC up 58-54 with 2:02 left in regulation.

However, Furman would get six of the final eight points scored between the two teams and a couple of turnovers by each team in the final minute sent the game into extra time.

The Mocs and Paladins headed to overtime with an advancement to the next round at stake. It would take more than two minutes before Furman broke the seal with a 3-pointer from Walters.

Chattanooga’s Sigrun Olafsdottir scored a quick bucket off a Furman turnover to make it a 63-62 affair but it would be free throws for Furman down the stretch to give the Paladins the win. Furman went 5-for-6 in overtime from the line and 16-of-18 for the game.

Despite hitting from deep early, UTC made just 5-of-18 3-pointers in the game and was 25-of-59 from the field. Cornelius, who scored 15 points in the third, led the Mocs with a career-high 26 points. She was 11-of-15 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. She just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

Brooke Hampel was the Mocs only other player in double digits with 10 points off the bench to go along with four rebounds. Sigrun Olafsdottir dished out seven assists with eight points and five boards and Addie Grace Porter had seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Walters led Furman with a game-high tying 26 points while SoCon Player of the Year Tierra Hodges had 20 points and 20 rebounds including 10 on the offensive end. Grace van Rij joined the pair in double figures with 14 points and six rebounds.

Furman scored 24 points off 21 Chattanooga miscues and had 19 second chance points on 20 offensive boards compared to UTC’s nine on 11. The Mocs, led by Cornelius, dominated the paint 40-24 and edged the Paladins 13-10 on bench points.

“You can’t have 21 turnovers and give up 20 offensive rebounds and win a ballgame,” Burrows said. “That’s where we lost it. Twenty-four points off turnovers 19 points second chance points. Those are all mental things and we’ve got to make those a priority if we want to win ballgames like this.”

The Mocs season concludes with an overall mark of 7-23 while Furman (18-11) advances to the semifinal round Friday afternoon to take on No. 2 Wofford at 1:15 p.m.