The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team kept pace for all but one quarter Wednesday night at South Dakota State, but the host Jackrabbits’ dominance in the third helped them pull away for a 71-56 victory and keep the Mocs from ending a losing streak that now stands at eight games.
“There were a lot of good things today, but we just can’t put four quarters together,” Mocs coach Katie Burrows said in a UTC release. “We have to learn how to do that in order to pull out these wins. That is a very good team right there, and we hung with them for three quarters.”
Eboni Williams scored 11 points and Lakelyn Bouldin added 10 in Brookings as the Mocs (1-10) played on the road for the third straight game, having lost 78-51 at UT-Martin this past Sunday and 71-65 at Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 1.
Williams, a sophomore forward, grabbed eight rebounds as she flirted with what would have been her second double-double in three games – she had 23 points and 11 rebounds at Eastern Kentucky – Bria Dial added nine points and Abbey Cornelius scored seven with five rebounds. Ruona Uwusiaba’s six rebounds led UTC, which totaled 30 boards – five fewer than South Dakota State (7-4).
The Jackrabbits led 16-15 after the first quarter and went to the locker room with a 31-27 lead at halftime, but their 22-11 edge in the third quarter put distance between them and the Mocs, who haven’t won since a 71-54 victory at Liberty on Nov. 11.
“We did a better job today of taking care of the ball,” Burrows said in the release. “We still had 13 turnovers, but most of those happened when we are playing too fast or just picking up our dribble and not having anything to do with it.”
Tagyn Larson had 15 points, eight assists and six rebounds to lead South Dakota State, with Lindsey Theuninck adding 13 points and Paiton Burckhard 11.
The Mocs return to competition Sunday at McKenzie Arena, with the women’s 1:30 p.m. game the first half of a doubleheader against Troy. The UTC men, who lost 63-58 at Virginia Tech on Wednesday night to fall to 6-5, are set to play at 4.
Compiled by Marty Kirkland. Contact him at mkirkland@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478.