The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team’s season didn’t end Monday with its 12-point loss at the College of Charleston. When you lose Southern Conference games as rarely as the Lady Mocs do, each defeat seems bigger than it really is.
“We’ve created a little bit of a monster, I guess,” Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said Thursday with a laugh. “Yesterday a couple of people came up to me at lunch and said ‘What happened?’ And then today I go get my hair cut and the lady says, ‘I’m sorry you’re kind of struggling this year.'”
Though the loss was disappointing, it was by no means the end of the world for the Lady Mocs (18-7, 13-3). Nor did it signal the end of their pursuit of an 11th consecutive SoCon championships.
Losing is never a good thing, but something good can come of it, senior forward Shanara Hollinquest said.
“I think it kind of slapped us upside the head and just let us know we still can lose,” Hollinquest said.
The 62-50 loss to the Cougars snapped UTC’s 13-game winning streak, which was tied for third-longest in the nation, and cut the Lady Mocs’ lead in the standings to one game with four to play.
Still, it’s better to be in the lead with four games left than having to make up ground.
“We’ve talked about controlling our own destiny and how we have a small margin for error,” Moore said.
Up next is Saturday’s home game — three of UTC’s last four are at McKenzie Arena — against an Appalachian State squad (14-9, 10-4) that has won seven straight games. The Lady Mocs’ inside game should get a boost Saturday with the return of freshman forward Erin Helton, who missed the past five games because of a cyst that had to be removed.
With the race for the regular-season title tightening — five teams still have a shot at it — and the SoCon tournament less than three weeks away, Moore said it’s time for the Lady Mocs to get into the postseason mindset.
“We’ve just got to keep trying to stay focused, and our young players probably don’t realize how everything is fixing to get ratcheted up a lot,” he said. “It’s win or go home (in the tournament), and we’re going to have to be a little tougher and more ready to play.”