CHARLESTON, S.C. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team rebounded from its first Southern Conference loss in nearly two years by beating the College of Charleston 61-55 Monday night at Carolina First Arena.
Shanara Hollinquest had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Erin Ogan added 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Mocs, but the win wasn’t sealed until Tagan Hatchett hit two free throws with four seconds remaining in the game.
“We survived,” UTC coach Wes Moore said. “Nothing’s going to be easy this year, and we’re going to have to fight and claw for everything we get.”
The Lady Mocs (10-6, 6-1) had their 27-game SoCon winning streak snapped at Georgia Southern on Saturday and were trying to avoid the program’s first back-to-back conference losses since the end of the 1998-99 season, Moore’s first at UTC.
All the way down to the closing seconds, that second straight SoCon loss was a possibility.
“We let them make a couple of plays to get back in it, and we can’t keep doing that,” Moore said.
Jenaya Wade-Fray, who finished with 13 points, hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the second half and Hatchett hit a pair of free throws to give UTC a 40-28 lead with 16:17 remaining.
But the Lady Mocs didn’t score again for more than five minutes and the Cougars (8-5, 2-4) were able to cut into UTC’s lead. Tonia Gerty’s jumper capped a 7-0 run that made it 40-35 before Wade-Fray made a free throw with 11:14 to go.
After Tenisha Townsend’s jumper pushed UTC’s lead to 48-39, the Cougars answered with a jump shot by Ericka Williams, a 3-pointer by Jade Hughes and a pair of Hughes free throws that cut the lead to 48-46 with 4:35 remaining.
A Wade-Fray 3-pointer gave UTC a 53-48 lead with 3:27 to go, and after a defensive stop Ogan hit a long jumper to push the margin to seven. Williams cut the lead to 57-52 with 1:53 to play, and after Hollinquest missed the front end of a one-and-one, Hughes hit a 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining to make it 57-55.
After a timeout, Nikki Williams stole Ogan’s inbounds pass but Hughes missed a jumper and Hollinquest grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She made the first free throw but missed the second and Gerty, who led the Cougars with 18 points, missed a 3 that could have tied the game.
Hatchett rebounded the miss and made two free throws to secure the victory.
The Lady Mocs are off until next Monday’s visit to Western Carolina.
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