Women's basketball opponents naturally are attempting to take advantage of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's weaknesses this season.
Furman is just the latest example of one that succeeded at it.
The Paladins used a 9-0 fourth-quarter run to pull away from the Mocs for a 50-45 Southern Conference victory Thursday night at McKenzie Arena. The win gave the Paladins (16-11, 6-6) their first win over the Mocs in Chattanooga since 2002, the last time they swept UTC.
The Mocs (15-10, 6-5) have their final home game Saturday against Wofford at 2 and will honor seniors Aryanna and Keiana Gilbert, Anna Claire Noblit and manager Chase Clounch before the game.
Thursday, they held Furman to 30 percent shooting from the floor but made only 33 percent themselves and had only four assists. Typically a team that doesn't foul often, UTC committed 17 infractions, with the Paladins making 19 of 20 free throws. Their best player, Cierra Carter, hit 10 of 10.
"We are a team that doesn't have an identity," UTC coach Jim Foster said. "It's not often you lose a game when holding a team to 30 percent from the field. I don't think people coming off the bench were prepared.
"Some of the people out there are doing things that on a daily basis we're trying to break them of, and they go back to them over and over and over again."
Some of the team's old bad habits came back. The Gilbert sisters and sophomore Lakelyn Bouldin combined for 36 of UTC's points, with the fourth-leading scorer, Arianne Whitaker, totaling five. She did have 15 rebounds, giving her 31 in the last two games, but she has nine points in that span.
"We come into the game and it's like we don't trust each other," Foster said. "We don't have any faith in each other. We throw the ball to someone hoping they'll do something and not take responsibility for our own actions. It all comes back to my shoulders: I'm not doing a good enough job coaching this basketball team."
The game had five lead changes, with UTC last leading 32-29 on a Bouldin 3-pointer with 3:24 left in the third quarter. The Paladins finished the period with paint baskets by Celena Taborn and Kaitlyn Duncan, then started the fourth quarter with another Taborn basket and one by Carter.
The Mocs cut the margin to one after a steal and a layup by Molly Melton, followed by the 5-foot-4 junior forcing another Stephania Oramas turnover, but Bouldin and Aryanna Gilbert missed go-ahead 3s and the Paladins responded with nine straight points. By the time Aryanna Gilbert scored on a drive with two minutes remaining, the Mocs trailed 46-38.
They mounted one final surge, with Bouldin and Keiana Gilbert scoring to cut the lead to four, but Aryanna Gilbert missed a shot inside that would have cut the deficit to two and Furman's Carter and Le'Jzae Davidson made four free throws down the stretch.
Carter had a game-high 18 points for the Paladins.
This was the fifth loss for the Mocs against SoCon competition this season. In Foster's first four seasons, UTC lost a combined four league games.
"We have coaches that all played on championship teams here," Foster said, referring to Alicia "Red" Payne, Ka'Vonne Towns and Katie (Galloway) Burrows. "They're hurting. I don't know how many people feel this with this group right now.
"It's hard to stay on top - harder to stay on top than get on top - and I'm questioning how tough we are, how motivated we are, and just who we want to be. It's hard, because everybody wants a piece of you. There are teams in the last couple of weeks that haven't beaten Chattanooga and they're seniors; they're hungry and we're not, we don't play that way.
"We've got to ask some questions. Everybody needs to look in the mirror and have that conversation. Who am I? Who do I think I am? Who am I really? Am I satisfied with who I am? I'm not satisfied with the person I look at."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.