No. 21 UTC women now 22-3

The UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team had lost 12 straight games heading into Saturday’s visit to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and going winless so far in Southern Conference play.

But every college athlete has pride, and the Spartans came ready to take on the No. 21 Mocs and went toe-to-toe for most of the first half. UNCG trailed by just two points with 6:15 remaining in the half before UTC took control with an 18-2 run that led to a 76-52 win in front of 2,470 fans at McKenzie Arena.

“We expected that,” sophomore guard Chelsey Shumpert, who led UTC with 15 points. “At this time of the season, I think everybody is playing as hard as they can for conference (positioning). So whatever they do we need to do, so we had to get on the floor and go after it.

“They were just being aggressive. They had a lot of energy and were pressuring us, so we couldn’t do what we wanted to do. But we got back into it.”

The Mocs (22-3, 10-0) jumped to a 7-0 lead, but the Spartans used full-court pressure and an attacking offense to get back into the game and put UTC post player Jasmine Joyner into foul trouble seven minutes in.

With Joyner on the bench with two fouls, senior Destiny Bramblett was called on to help the Mocs match UNCG’s early attack.

“Coach (Jim) Foster tells me that I need to play sound defense and be the aggressor,” she said. “Coach John (McCray) always says to be the hammer and not the nail. I felt like I needed to be just as physical as they had been physical with Jas.

“Coming off the bench and bringing that energy helped us end the first half well.”

Bramblett finished with 13 points, and Joyner added 10 second-half points to finish with 14 for the game. UTC used its own defensive pressure in the second half to finish with 13 steals and scored 23 points off 19 UNCG turnovers.

Despite the slow start, Foster was happy with how his team finished the game for another convincing win.

“I have no negative opinion when we shoot 52 percent, and 21 assists and 12 turnovers,” he said. “I thought we did a good job taking care of the ball and not forcing and getting opportunities for back-cuts.

“A lot people got in and got to play in different combinations. And we played against a team that plays real hard, so I like most of the stuff I’m looking at.”

UNCG (5-20, 0-10) shot a respectable 42 percent from the floor and was led by Jade Scaife with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but leading scorer Lucy Mason was held to five points on 2-of-10 shooting.

“We stopped following the game plan,” Spartans coach Wendy Palmer said “There’s no question (UTC) is a good team — well coached, plays hard — but we stopped following our game plan.

“There’s still season left, … and all you have is this time now. So I’m just trying to prepare them and take it one game at a time.”

With only four games remaining in the regular season, including three straight road games before senior day on Feb. 28 against East Tennessee State, Foster knows his Mocs are going to get the best shot from their opponents every game.

“You don’t walk on the floor and people faint,” he said. “They come at you, and I expect everybody in this conference to do that. Especially if you’ve had a disappointing season, how do you feel better about yourself? You try to knock off a real good team.

“We’re not going to fall into that trap, I don’t think, and I give them a lot credit. They did a few things differently, and we started to adjust to that and we got good opportunities.”

Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.