As the season progresses, Jim Foster has realized that the best way for his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team to win games is to grind them out.
Wednesday became a perfect example.
The Mocs trailed by eight points early but rallied to build a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter on their way to a 62-53 midday win over Belmont in front of 1,788 fans at McKenzie Arena on Education Day. The win is the 800th in the history of the UTC women’s program.
It was a quick one-game home stand, as the Mocs face East Carolina in the first game of the UNC Wilmington Christmas Classic at noon Friday.
The Mocs were able to wash some of the “stink” off their 28-point loss to South Florida on Sunday.
“We didn’t play well in that game,” guard Keiana Gilbert said. “We had to practice hard, bounce back and get better.”
She and Moses Johnson scored 15 points each Wednesday. Johnson’s point total was a career high, as were her 12 rebounds in 33 minutes of game action. Jasmine Joyner and Alicia Payne had nine points apiece, with Payne adding a team-high four assists.
Queen Alford had eight points and Nakeia Burks scored six as the Mocs played only six players in rotation. They shot only 40 percent from the field but turned the ball over a season-low four times.
“We shot the ball well enough, but we got shots because we weren’t giving them shot attempts,” Foster said. “Our emphasis today was to keep grinding defensively, and offensively for some people to take on responsibility. We had too many people passing the ball to the next person, wanting them to do something, but today more often than not some people asserted themselves and took on some responsibility.”
Of the seven UTC players who received at least one second of playing time Wednesday, five took double-digit shots, led by Johnson’s 15. Payne, who averages 5.7 shots per game, had 14 attempts.
The Mocs also turned 10 Belmont turnovers into 16 points, which helped offset 12 second-chance points by the Bruins, who out-rebounded the Mocs 36-34.
“We had to focus on scoring and getting stops,” Gilbert said, “and that’s what we did well at the start of the fourth quarter. We spent a lot of time working on our transition offense, and that worked in the game today.”
Belmont led 14-6 after a Kylee Smith 3-pointer seven minutes into the game, but the Mocs made a 13-0 run and built a nine-point lead before settling on a 32-30 advantage at the halftime break. The hosts led 47-44 after three quarters and pulled away in the final period by limiting the Bruins to 3-of-11 shooting from the field.
The Mocs weren’t much better (5-of-16) but created a number of extra possessions by grabbing six of their 10 offensive rebounds in the final 10 minutes of action.
Sally McCabe led Belmont with 14 points and six rebounds. Sierra Jones paced the Bruins with eight rebounds.
“We had a lot of preparation for today,” Johnson said. “We were focused in practice and continued to get better at things we drilled with the hope that hard work would pay off, and it showed in the game today. We were more aggressive on defense and moved the ball.
“We played 40 minutes, because you have to play 40 minutes against tough teams and work hard every minute.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.