The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team lost 58-57 Saturday to Furman in Greenville, S.C.
The loss was the second in three road games after a 2-0 start in Southern Conference play for the Mocs (12-7), who will be home for games this week against Samford and Mercer.
Saturday they had trouble containing Furman freshman post Celena Taborn, who scored 19 points and a career high of 18 rebounds. Eight of her rebounds came on the offensive end.
“We just did a very poor job of defending her straight up,” UTC coach Jim Foster said on the postgame radio broadcast. “We started to trap her and keep her off the backboard, but we didn’t box out.
“Our post players have got to fight harder. That’s the bottom line.”
Still, the teams were tied with 31 seconds to go after a pair of Aryanna Gilbert free throws for UTC, but on the other end she was whistled for a foul while trying to go through a Le’Jzae Davidson screen with eight seconds to play.
Davidson hit both free throws, and then UTC’s Keiana Gilbert was fouled on a drive. She missed the first free throw and made the second with four seconds to play, which forced the Mocs to foul. They sent Davidson back to the line and she missed both free throws, but Taborn grabbed the rebound to end the game.
It’s the second consecutive season that the Paladins (12-8, 3-3) have defeated the Mocs in Greenville.
“I can’t remember the last time we’ve beaten Chattanooga back-to-back here in Greenville, because that’s a storied program in our conference with a great coach in Jim Foster and tremendous players,” Furman coach Jackie Carson told FurmanPaladins.com. “That said, I’m very proud of our girls for being able to close out the game, which we had struggled to do our last two outings.
“Celena did an outstanding job in her first career start. She’s taken advantage of the opportunity she’s been given and is making the most of it. She also has a very high ceiling and a chance to be a real force in this league.”
Neither team shot the ball well in the final period, combining to make four of 25 attempts. But 14 of the Paladins’ free throws came in the final period, and they made seven. UTC was 4-for-6 in the quarter.
Keiana Gilbert had her third straight 20-point game and sixth of the season, with 20 points. She added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and the fifth of her career. Lakelyn Bouldin also finished with 20 points and hit five of 12 shots from 3-point range.
Freshman Rochelle Lee had five points and three rebounds in 16 minutes.
“We’re still a work a progress,” Foster said. “Our freshmen are starting to help. We’ve got to get some of these folks some rest during games. It helps when you get freshmen that can go in and do the right thing.
“We committed a couple of very silly fouls at the end. It’s live and learn; we just have a ways to go.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.