The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team has lost four games in a row. That hasn’t happened since the 1998-99 season, coach Wes Moore’s first with the Lady Mocs.
Well rested after a Christmas break, UTC (3-8) will try to snap its slide today at Belmont (4-6).
“It’s really frustrating, especially since we lost the last two games in overtime,” sophomore guard Kayla Christopher said of the losing streak. “If you think about, that’s just one basket, one thing that we could have done differently to win the game [in regulation]. It’s really frustrating, but it’s important to keep our heads up.”
Christopher said she watched a lot of television during the break. Moore, meanwhile, watched a lot of game film.
In UTC’s Dec. 21 65-63 overtime loss at Kennesaw State, the Lady Mocs gave up a jumper at the buzzer that forced overtime. The Owls then won the game with a short jumper with 2.7 seconds left.
“You’d probably rather go into the break on a high and feeling better about where you are,” Moore said. “Instead, you go into it think about ‘what if’ and maybe what I could have done differently. It’s hard to enjoy life off of the court when you’re not playing as well as you’d like on the court.”
In the four straight losses — to No. 11 Kentucky, the College of Charleston, Georgia Southern and Kennesaw State; the last three coming on the road — the Lady Mocs (3-8) have scored an average of 61.5 points per game.
The Lady Mocs have lost the four games by an average margin of 7.7 points, and that’s including the 15-loss to Kentucky. UTC has played solid defense for long stretches, but it hasn’t made the key stops.
Offensively, UTC has struggled, as well. While junior forward Whitney Hood is leading the Southern Conference in scoring with 21.8 points per game, she hasn’t been getting consistent help.
Belmont beat Kennesaw State by 16 points on Dec. 16, so Moore is definitely concerned about the Bruins. However, he said he’s more worried about finding ways for the Lady Mocs to play better.
“Right now we’re having to circle the wagons and pull the troops together and do whatever we can,” Moore said. “There’s no doubt we’d love to have [a win], but at the same time we’re still in December, so it’s a situation where you don’t want to panic.
“Don’t get me wrong, losing is killing me and in turn I’m probably killing the players. … It is important that we try to build some momentum here.”
After today’s game, UTC’s fourth in a row away from McKenzie Arena, the Lady Mocs return home for four SoCon games in nine days.
Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.