UTC’s Kayla Christopher drives past Samford’s Ruth Ketcham.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team doesn’t have to knock down a bunch of 3-pointers to win games. But it helps.
UTC (8-2) has won on cold shooting nights from long range, like against Wofford (4-for-15) and Jacksonville State (6-for-33). But in the Lady Mocs’ two losses, at St. Mary’s and at Auburn, they were a combined 17-of-69 from beyond the arc.
The Lady Mocs, who return to the court today at UAB (9-3) for the first time since the 53-40 loss at Auburn on Dec. 19, have struggled with all of their shots the past two games. They went 34.2 percent from the field against JSU and made only 27.3 percent of their shots versus the Tigers.
“We need to shoot the ball well,” UTC coach Wes Moore said. “We haven’t shot the ball well the past two games. Against Jacksonville State here at home, we were able to escape, but between it and the Auburn game we need to get back on track shooting the ball a little better.”
Moore said UTC’s first offensive option is to get the ball inside to center Ashlen Dewart, who has scored at least 21 points four times in the past seven games. However, the Lady Mocs need to make outside shots to open things inside. And that means they have to keep shooting, even when shots aren’t falling.