CULLOWHEE, N.C. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team’s first attempt at winning the Southern Conference title outright came up short Monday night at the Ramsey Center.
Western Carolina edged the Lady Mocs 51-49 in overtime after Jenaya Wade-Fray’s shot at the buzzer came up empty. It was one of many misses for UTC.
“This team, we’re having a hard time getting them to buy in,” UTC coach Wes Moore said. “They don’t seem to have the energy and enthusiasm that we’re used to having at UTC. This was a game where you had a chance to accomplish something and we didn’t get it done.”
The Lady Mocs (20-8, 15-4) can still win the title outright, and clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, with a victory over Samford on Saturday at McKenzie Arena.
It was a horrendous shooting night for UTC, which finished 16-for-60 (26.7 percent) from the field and 7-for-29 from 3-point range. The Catamounts (7-21, 6-13) were marginally better, hitting 19 of 56 (33.9 percent) shots.
Wade-Fray led UTC with 14 points on 5-for-17 shooting, and Shanara Hollinquest had 10 points and 11 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season.
“We struggled. We tried some different people to see if we could get someone in there to hit some shots,” Moore said. “But at the same time I’ve got to do a better job of getting them good looks, I guess.”
Western Carolina jumped to a 12-2 lead before UTC, which missed 10 of its first 12 shots, finally got going. The Lady Mocs slowly cut into the deficit as Western Carolina went nearly nine minutes without scoring.
Kayla Christopher gave UTC its first lead of the game with a 3 at the buzzer, putting the Lady Mocs up 19-18 at halftime. Western Carolina led by eight points in the second half before UTC rallied to tie the game at 42.
The Lady Mocs had the ball with 17.9 seconds left with a chance to win in regulation but couldn’t convert, sending the game to overtime. UTC never led in the extra period.
Samford (20-8, 14-5) is tied with Appalachian State for second place in the standings and would share the SoCon title with UTC with a win Saturday. The Bulldogs, who routed UTC 74-52 in their first meeting, would get the top seed in the tournament because they would have swept the season series.