The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team has a two-game lead in the Southern Conference standings with five games remaining. But the path to an 11th straight regular-season title is far from clear.
The Lady Mocs (18-6, 13-2) easily dispatched Georgia Southern, 70-48, on Saturday in the first game of their final full road trip of the season. They play at noon today at the College of Charleston, which lost at home to Samford on Saturday.
The Cougars (17-7, 11-4) are tied with Samford (17-7, 11-4) for second place in the league. The Lady Mocs beat Charleston 64-53 on Jan. 2.
“I’m sure we’re going to get a team that’s got their backs to the wall a little bit and are going to come out pretty hungry,” UTC coach Wes Moore said. “We could be walking into a hornet’s nest.”
Samford’s win was even more impressive considering the Bulldogs were without Emily London, who missed her second straight game with a knee injury. London is averaging 16 points per game and is giving UTC’s Shanara Hollinquest a run for SoCon player of the year.
After today’s game, the Lady Mocs host Appalachian State and Davidson, play at Western Carolina and close their regular season at home against Samford on Feb. 27. Five of UTC’s final six games will be against teams in the top six in the standings.
It’s a difficult stretch, Moore said, but the good news is that his team is playing better than it has all season.
“I definitely have been excited about them the last few games,” Moore said. “Again, though, part of that is because we’re shooting the ball well, and you’re going to have days where that’s not the case. We need to keep rebounding and playing good defense, and we’ve done a pretty good job of that lately.”