UTC senior Kylie Lambert shoots over an Appalachian State defender in the Lady Mocs’ 72-67 win in the semifinal round of the Southern Conference women’s basketball . (UTC Photo)The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga earned its ticket to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament last Monday, when Kayla Christopher’s putback lifted the Lady Mocs to a 64-63 win over Davidson in the finals of the Southern Conference tournament.
After a week of waiting, UTC (29-3) will find out who it will face in the first round, and where, tonight, when the brackets are announced on ESPN at 7 p.m. There is a selection show viewing party at Big River Grille on Broad Street.
“I think we ought to be at least a 12 seed,” coach Wes Moore said last Tuesday. “We won 29 games, we’ve won 19 in a row, we beat the SEC champion [Tennessee], we beat another SEC team on the road [Alabama].”
The Lady Mocs won the SoCon regular-season title, going 19-1 in league play, and haven’t lost since Jan. 7, when they fell at Elon in overtime. Their three losses were at St. Mary’s (20-10), at Auburn (16-14) and at Elon (18-13).
ESPN women’s basketball “bracketology” analyst Charlie Creme had the Lady Mocs as a No. 13 seed when he spoke to the Times Free Press on Wednesday. As of Sunday, UTC was bumped up to a No. 12 seed in Creme’s latest bracket.