UTC's Taylor Hall (31) and Tennessee's Isabelle Harrison (20) battle in the Lady Mocs'
win last season at McKenzie Arena. The teams will face off again tonight in Knoxville.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team got a historic win over Tennessee to open last season, winning 80-71 at McKenzie Arena.
It was UTC's first win in 19 tries against the Lady Vols. It was also Holly Warlick's first official game as Tennessee's head coach after taking over for Pat Summitt -- one not soon forgotten.
"You always remember the losses. especially the first game you coach," Warlick told reporters after the fourth-ranked Lady Vols beat No. 12 North Carolina 81-65 in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Monday.
The teams meet again at 7 tonight at Thompson-Boling Arena. UTC is 1-0 after opening with a win last Friday against another Southeastern Conference team, beating Alabama 82-70, and Tennessee is 2-0, with wins at Middle Tennessee and at UNC.
UTC coach Jim Foster has a long history with Tennessee, which played on a regular basis during his 11 years (1991-2002) at Vanderbilt. Foster is 3-25 all-time against the Lady Vols.
Foster said he likes having challenging games like this on the schedule because they help prepare a team for the NCAA tournament.
"Any time you have an opportunity to play against good players, your players should enjoy the challenge and the opportunity," he said.
UTC's sophomores, Tatianna Jackson and Alicia Payne, are 1-0 against the Lady Vols. Jackson said she's excited about the chance to play in front of a big crowd and the chance to make it two in a row.
"We're going into Tennessee and everybody knows their fan base is huge and there are going to be a lot of people there," said Jackson, who only played a couple of minutes in last season's win. "I'm excited, I want to beat them and I want to start our year off the same way we did last year, because that was a great way to start."
Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MocsBeat.