UTC Mocs logoThe University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team finally had its first stumble of the season Saturday with a 70-67 loss to host St. Mary’s College in the Thanksgiving Classic in Moraga, Calif.
St. Mary’s used a 13-2 run to open a 15-point lead at the start of the second half, but UTC cut the deficit to a single point on Kayla Christopher’s seventh 3-pointer of the game with 38 seconds remaining before the Lady Gaels made enough free throws to wrap up the win.
“I’d like to win them all, but I’m proud of our effort today,” UTC coach Wes Moore said by phone. “It would have been easy to mail it in, but we fought back and had our chances. I just hope we can learn from it.”
The Lady Mocs (4-1) had been on a roll since opening the season by stunning No. 20 Tennessee, but the Lady Gaels held them to just over 35 percent shooting from the field and put them on the line just eight times.
“We need to come out at the start with mentality that we can shut them down and make plays and be the aggressor,” Moore said. “We had no free throws in the first half and shot too many 3s.”