Hood first-team All-SoCon

photo Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press UTC's Whitney Hood shoots in the game against Lee University at McKenzie Arena.

The Southern Conference's leading scorer all season long, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball forward Whitney Hood was voted first-team all-conference by the league's media, the SoCon announced Monday.

Hood, a 6-foot-2 junior in her first season playing for UTC after transferring from Clemson, averaged 19.2 points per game and shot a SoCon-best 53.6 percent from the field. She was seventh in rebounding with 6.7 per game.

A UTC player had been named league player of the year for five straight years, but this season that honor went to Samford's Emily London. Darcie Vincent, who guided Appalachian State to the SoCon regular-season title, was voted the coach of the year. Davidson's Laura Murray was selected freshman of the year.

The SoCon tournament begins at McKenzie Arena on Thursday. The No. 3-seeded Lady Mocs play Saturday morning against either No. 6 UNC Greensboro or No. 11 Wofford.

Storms sideline Mocs

The UTC football team was scheduled to practice for the third time this spring, and first time in pads, Monday afternoon. The storms that pass through Chattanooga nixed those plans and the Mocs will break out the pads tonight at Finley Stadium, coach Russ Huesman said.

Because of the basketball tournaments, the football team is essentially moving out of the Roundhouse this week and into the Mocs' locker room at Finley.

The Mocs also have changed the date of their first scrimmage. Instead of Friday, the team will scrimmage Saturday at 7 p.m. The scrimmage will be going on at the same time as the UTC men's basketball team's game at McKenzie, but Huesman said the conflict couldn't be avoided because of soccer events scheduled at Finley.

Skrine set to run

Former Mocs cornerback Buster Skrine will wrap up his time at the NFL combine today when he finally gets to run and jump. Skrine said he wanted to finish in the top three among defensive backs in all of the workouts.

Skrine is the first UTC player invited to the Combine since Eldra Buckley in 2007.

Fuzzard picked again

UTC pitcher and first baseman Michelle Fuzzard was named the SoCon softball player of the week Monday, two weeks after being the season's inaugural pitcher honoree. The Lady Mocs' other first baseman, Kasey Tydingco, was the player of the week last week.

In UTC's 5-0 run in the Frost Classic, Fuzzard batted .643 with two home runs and two doubles among her nine hits and 10 RBIs. She hit three-run homers in the first innings of both Friday games. Going back to Feb. 20, she had 11 hits in 11 at-bats before making an out.

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