UTC Lady Mocs fired up for visit from Elon

photo Kayla Christopher of UTC looks for an opening against the Samford University at McKenzie Arena.
Arkansas-Oklahoma State Live Blog

Missed box-outs, below-.500 free-throw shooting and subpar shooting from everywhere else added up to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball loss at Elon on Jan. 7.

The 70-60 overtime defeat remains the Lady Mocs' only Southern Conference loss this season -- they've won nine straight since -- and it still bothers them a little more than a month later.

The Lady Mocs (19-3, 12-1) have a chance to redeem themselves against the Phoenix (12-9, 9-3) at McKenzie Arena today in the first game of the Legends Weekend doubleheader.

"It was a game that you kind of feel like you let get away," UTC coach Wes Moore said. "We had probably a five-point lead with three or four minutes left and gave up a whole bunch of offensive boards down the stretch."

UTC led 55-49 with 4:57 to play and 55-51 with 3:40 left. An offensive rebound led to an Elon 3-pointer that cut the gap to 55-54, and with less than 10 seconds remaining Elon's Kelsey Evans grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to force overtime. Evans finished with 21 rebounds.

"We can't let a kid get 21 rebounds, eight of them offensive," Moore said. "Their whole team has a mentality of crashing the boards."

UTC also went 10-for-21 on free throws and 22-of-68 from the field.

Moore is in his 15th season at UTC. A victory today will give him 20-win season No. 13 with the Lady Mocs. He's two wins away from win No. 350 at UTC and 550 for his career.

For UTC senior Kayla Christopher, who is sixth all-time in the SoCon with 211 career 3s, getting a 20th win today will mean staying atop the league standings.

"We control our own destiny from here on out, which is something we haven't had the past few years," she said. "It feels good to be back [in first place], but we're not going to be satisfied with 20 wins."

Four of UTC's final seven regular-season games are at the Roundhouse, including another doubleheader Monday, when the Lady Mocs host UNC Greensboro.

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