UTC senior point guard Alicia Payne had 15 points and four assists in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Western Carolina in the Southern Conference tournament.ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Jim Foster wasn’t pleased with the defense his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team was playing early in Thursday’s Southern Conference quarterfinal game against Western Carolina. So he asked the Mocs to play better.
They listened.
The Mocs held the Catamounts to one field goal in the final 5:15 of the first quarter and 29 percent shooting in the second stanza, giving them a 14-point lead at the break. UTC threw in a 19-2 run to start the third quarter and cruised to a 74-56 win at the U.S. Cellular Center to advance to a semifinal today at 1:15 p.m.
“I thought we took care of the ball,” Foster said. “I thought early on, we were casual and we addressed their casualness. We stopped being casual and played with a lot more intensity, a lot more enthusiasm and a lot more communication.”
UTC (22-7) will face Samford, which defeated Wofford 63-43 in a later quarterfinal.