The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team was in a familiar place in the Southern Conference standings – first place – heading into Thursday’s matchup at UNC Greensboro.
That’s no longer true.
The Spartans started overtime with a 7-0 run and held off the Mocs to win 75-72 at Fleming Gymnasium in Greensboro, N.C. It is the Spartans’ first win over the Mocs since Jan. 2, 2007, with UTC winning 23 straight in the series after that defeat and 38 of the previous 39 before Thursday’s upset.
The Mocs (15-10, 9-2) next play at Western Carolina (7-20, 2-10) at 2 p.m. Saturday. They fall into second place in the league, a half-game behind Mercer (21-5, 10-2), but the Mocs own any tiebreaker with the Bears by virtue of sweeping their season series.
Jasmine Joyner led UTC with 20 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and three steals Thursday. Lakelyn Bouldin had 15 points, while Chelsey Shumpert (13) and Keiana Gilbert (10) rounded out the double-digit scoring.
Te’ja Twitty led five players who scored in double figures for UNCG (15-12, 6-6) with 16 points and 10 rebounds, seven offensive. The Spartans had 17 offensive rebounds, leading to 24 second-chance points.
“They were a hungry basketball team,” UTC coach Jim Foster said on the postgame radio broadcast. “They outworked us, in my opinion.”
The Mocs started the fourth quarter up 54-50 and built that lead to nine after a 3-pointer by Shumpert and a Joyner jumper. After the latter, the Spartans held the Mocs without a basket for 7:11 – Bouldin made five free throws during that span – and took the lead at 62-61 on a free throw by Shanese Harris.
A Shumpert 3-pointer with 50 seconds to play gave the Mocs a 67-65 lead, but on UNCG’s ensuing trip down the court, the Spartans grabbed three offensive rebounds and UTC’s Aryanna Gilbert was called for a foul at the end of that sequence to put Harris on the line.
She hit both free throws to tie the game at 67, but UTC then dodged a bullet after a turnover when the Spartans missed a pair of shots around the rim before the regulation buzzer.
After watching the Spartans score the first seven points in the extra period, the Mocs responded with a Joyner layup and a 3-pointer by Keiana Gilbert with 12 seconds to play. The Mocs fouled Alexis Pitchford, who made the first free throw and missed the second, but last-second 3-point attempts by Shumpert and Joyner were no good.
“Give them credit,” Foster said of the Spartans. “We were in charge of our situation. We could have finished undisputed in first place, but now we have to get ourselves ready for Western Carolina.
“We need to get a lot tougher in between the ears.”