CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Jim Foster felt his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team took a step forward with its overall play Thursday.
He took a career step forward as well.
Foster's Mocs held Western Carolina scoreless for 11 minutes and 41 seconds in the first game of a Southern Conference doubleheader and pulled away for a 58-41 victory at the Ramsey Center. It was Foster's 900th career win, making him the eighth women's coach in NCAA history to reach that number and tying him for seventh all-time in wins with Jody Conradt.
800 coaching victories
Women’s basketball coaches with 800 victories who have spent a minimum of 10 seasons in Division I, with last school worked at listed (x-active):Through Feb. 11. Pat Summitt, Tennessee 1,0982. x-Tara VanDerveer, Stanford 1,0263. x-Geno Auriemma, UConn 1,0124. x-Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina 1,0045. x-C. Vivian Stringer, Rutgers 9946. x-Jim Foster, UTC 9006. Jody Conradt, Texas 9008. x-Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame 8749. Robin Selvig, Montana 86510. Andy Landers, Georgia 862Source: The Associated Press
The Mocs (14-8, 5-3) play Saturday at 4 p.m. at UNC Greensboro.
"I don't look at things that way," Foster said when asked about what the win means. "When I'm done, I might look back, but we got a little better today. We'll need to get a little bit better tomorrow and a little bit better next week.
"Our freshmen are starting to get it. To win a game when two of our leading scorers aren't playing well, we had others pick up the slack. Our post players are starting to figure out that the stuff we've been telling them all along does work.
"Tonight was more about what this team is doing right now than anything else."
Keiana Gilbert led UTC with 16 points and added four assists. Arianne Whitaker had her second double-double of the season, with 15 points and 10 rebounds plus two blocks, while Brooke Burns made all four of her shots, including two 3s, and scored 10 points.
Aryanna Gilbert and Lakelyn Bouldin, the team's leading and third-leading scorers coming into the game, combined to score 13 points on 4-for-17 shooting.
Thursday's game was decided in the second and third quarters, when the Mocs went on an 18-0 run. The Catamounts (4-19, 0-8) trailed 15-14 after a putback by Sherae Bonner with 6:29 remaining in the second quarter, but by the time Judith Martin Ruiz hit a baseline jumper with 4:48 to play in the third quarter, the Mocs were in front 33-16.
And the production came from everywhere, as five Mocs scored during the run. Burns and Bouldin made 3-pointers and Whitaker had six of her points in that span.
"We just moved the ball and things started clicking," Burns said. "We started hitting shots and getting stops on defense."
The Mocs held the Catamounts to 28 percent shooting for the game - 19 percent in the first half when UTC built a 27-14 lead. It was the second consecutive game against the Mocs that WCU had failed to shoot 30 percent from the floor.
Ruiz had 12 points to lead the Catamounts, while Bonner finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.