The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team has been rewarded for its successful season by earning a spot in this week's Associated Press women's Top 25.
The Mocs (17-3, 5-0 SoCon) are ranked No. 25 in the poll that was released Monday afternoon, given the program its first appearance in the AP Top 25 since 1984 when the team was ranked as high as No. 19 and was No. 20 in the final poll of the 1983-84 season.
"We are really excited and this is great for our program," UTC Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics David Blackburn said in a statement released by the university. "We're really proud of the direction Coach Foster is taking the team. It's a worthy accomplishment anytime you get your team ranked among the best."
UTC received 60 points in the latest rankings, up from 45 last week to move into the rankings along with No. 24 Oklahoma.
UTC coach Jim Foster, in his second season at Chattanooga, becomes the first coach to lead four schools into the AP Top 25. In his 37th season as a head coach, Foster has also coached ranked teams at St. Joseph's, Vanderbilt and Ohio State.
The ranking for UTC comes in the middle of one of the best, and perhaps most surprising, seasons in program history. The team - which lost four starters and five seniors from last season's Southern Conference regular-season and tournament championship squad - has wins over two Top 10 teams, beating then-No. 4 Tennessee 67-63 on Nov. 16, and following that up with a 54-46 win over then-No. 7 Stanford on Dec. 17.
In addition, the Mocs are on a 13-game winning streak and are unbeaten in SoCon play heading into tonight's home game against Samford. Tip-off tonight at McKenzie Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Check back later for more on this story, and see Tuesday's Times Free Press to find out how the Mocs did Monday night in their first game of the season as a ranked team.
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.