They’re undefeated in Southern Conference play, but that has not come easily for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball Mocs.
They have had a few lopsided wins, but as they wrap up the first half of conference play, recent games have shown that the gap between the league’s best team and the rest of the SoCon has shrunk.
Exponentially.
UTC (12-8, 6-0) plays at 2 p.m. today at Furman (11-11, 4-2), which is tied with East Tennessee State for third place in the league, two games behind the Mocs and a game behind Mercer.
In the Mocs’ most recent game, they needed a strong second-half effort to defeat Wofford 71-61. The game before that, UNC Greensboro had an opportunity to tie on the last possession, but the Mocs held on for a 58-55 win. Those two opponents combined to win three games in league play last season, all by Wofford.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve brought a lot of good coaches – new teams in the league or new coaches,” UTC coach Jim Foster said after the win Thursday at Wofford. “The quality of coaching is terrific; this is a heck of a lot more fun knowing every night you have to play. For the players and the coaches, instead of having to constantly motivate and tell them you have to be ready for this team, they may be good enough to play at 80, 70 percent and still win.
“The fact we played the schedule we played, we know how to go hard and it’s paid dividends, and the fact you have to, the team that comes out of this league at the end of the year should be better.”
The Mocs trailed for a portion of the first half against the Terriers, and the game was tied with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter. The Mocs finally pulled away with solid fourth-quarter defense and some timely shooting, especially from the free-throw line.
Afterward the players spoke of the need to bring their best effort to every game, which should be even more important considering the Mocs’ long run of SoCon success and every opponents’ desire to knock them off.
“We see now that road games are tough and we can’t take any team for granted,” junior guard Chelsey Shumpert said. “The SoCon is extremely better and we have to play at the level we know how to play. We can’t take a day off; we have to stay focused, stay competitive, and we’ll end up right.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.