The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball Mocs have reached new heights in the national rankings, at No. 18 in the Associated Press poll, but they don’t get a pass from Southern Conference opponents.
For the second consecutive game, the Mocs rallied from a halftime deficit to win Monday night at Mercer, 56-51. They are 25-3 overall, 13-0 in the SoCon.
The host Bears (16-13, 8-5) held UTC to 32 percent shooting in the first half, when guard Precious Bridges scored 10 points as the Macon team led 23-21. Just as they did in Saturday’s 56-49 win at Samford, the Mocs made adjustments on defense and shot better in the final 20 minutes to post their 21st consecutive victory.
Historic rise to 18
UTC moved up two spots to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll released Monday afternoon. That is the highest ranking in the program’s history, surpassing the No. 19 listing held for three weeks in 1984. The Mocs received 246 points and jumped ahead of Rutgers and Stanford, which lost to UTC in mid-December when the Cardinal were No. 7. This is the fifth consecutive week that UTC has been ranked by the AP. — Jim Tanner
“This is a tough place to play,” UTC coach Jim Foster said on the postgame radio show. “They are always in close games here. … We didn’t get off to a real good start but finally started to figure a couple of things out.