The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team took one on the chin Monday night at fourth-ranked Tennessee.
In a 60-point loss to the Lady Vols, who looked like serious national championship contenders, the Lady Mocs (0-2) were down 19-0 before they scored.
“We probably got discouraged, got intimidated,” Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said. “There were times that they made plays that we probably couldn’t have done a whole lot about – their athleticism, their size, whatever. But there’s obviously plays where we could have done a better job, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.”
The Lady Mocs visit another ranked Southeastern Conference opponent tonight – No. 18 Georgia (1-0). The Lady Bulldogs opened their season last Saturday with a 58-43 win over Georgia Southern.
Junior point guard Tenisha Townsend said the Lady Mocs didn’t compete as hard as they should have against Tennessee, and that’s something they must do tonight, regardless of the score.
“The only thing we can take from that loss is we’ve got to get better and we’ve got to compete,” Townsend said. “We didn’t really go out there and compete. We looked like we were scared and we’ve just got to get better and compete. That’s the big thing.”
Moore said the only real positive he could take from the Tennessee loss was the play of forward Whitney Hood, who had 22 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes.
Hood was 8-for-12 from the floor, while the rest of the team was 7-for-39.
“Whitney Hood showed me something in the second half,” Moore said. “Again, it wasn’t against [starter Kelly Cain], it was against somebody else; still, those posts are probably as good as anybody in [the Southern Conference], and Hoodie stepped up and did some good things.
“That’s encouraging because that position’s so critical to what we do.”
Tonight’s game will be No. 1,000 at Georgia for coach Andy Landers, a Maryville native. For Moore, who began his head coaching career at Maryville College, it will be game No. 387 at UTC.