ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Basketball games at any level rarely are won in the opening 10 minutes, but an argument can be made that Thursday’s 72-62 win for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women over UNC Greensboro in the Southern Conference tournament was decided early.
The Mocs, who struggled to score in losing five of their final seven regular-season games, came out cool and confident against a Spartans team that put them out of the tournament a year ago. Third-seeded UTC (14-16) hit eight of 15 shots in rolling to a 23-10 lead after one period, and though UNCG rallied late, the Mocs never gave up the lead.
Lakelyn Bouldin scores two of her team-high 20 points over UNC Greensboro’s Cece Crudup during UTC’s 72-62 win Thursday evening in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference women’s basketball tournament in Asheville, N.C..UTC will face No. 2 seed Furman in the semifinal round at 1:15 p.m. Friday. Top-seeded Mercer and No. 5 seed Wofford will meet in the other semifinal. The championship game is set for noon Sunday.
“What a great win for our program,” first-year head coach Katie Burrows said. “This has been, as we can tell from our record, a roller-coaster year for us. We left the tournament last year with a bad taste in our mouth, and Greensboro gave us that.
“Our kids were very loose this week, which is a good sign to me. They weren’t nervous – they were just ready to play, ready for another opportunity. We talked about it before Saturday’s game last week: Just go out and play the game you’ve been playing most of your lives and enjoy yourselves.”
Seven Mocs scored in the opening period, with Lakelyn Bouldin getting six of her team-high 20 points early. The early going also included the first signs of dominance from UTC junior post Arianne Whitaker, who would end the game with 13 points, a career-high-tying 17 rebounds and six of the team’s 13 blocked shots.
“Overall, I’m really proud of our bunch,” Burrows added, turning a smile toward Bouldin and Whitaker, who joined her in the postgame media room. “I can’t say enough about these two and their effort. I may have played them a few too many minutes, so I hope that doesn’t burn us tomorrow. I kept asking if they were OK and they said, ‘I’m good, Coach,’ so I’m thankful for their contribution tonight.”
The shooting cooled off considerably in the second quarter, a 3-for-12 10 minutes that allowed the Spartans (11-19) to rally within nine by halftime. UTC opened the third quarter with four quick points, including a three-point play from Whitaker off a nice feed from Morgan Hill. The Mocs closed the period with 3-pointers from Bouldin and Brooke Burns to take a 47-35 lead into the final 10 minutes.
The Spartans, led by all-conference first-team member Nadine Soliman, mounted a furious rally in the final four minutes. The Mocs’ margin was 12 before a 9-2 run, capped by a Soliman 3-pointer and a Cece Crudup steal and layup, cut it to five with 1:02 still to play.
“They definitely got more aggressive on the inside in the fourth quarter, but I think we handled it well,” Whitaker said. “We started helping each other more.”
The Mocs iced the win with a 9-of-10 performance from the foul line in the final 51 seconds, including two from Bouldin, the conference’s top free-throw shooter, who was 7-for-7 on free throws.
“We’ve been up and down with consistency shooting the ball this year, so that was one of the keys of the game for us to come out hot and really just continue that for the rest of the game,” said Bouldin, who added eight rebounds. “We kind of slowed it down in the second quarter, and we can’t have that tomorrow. When we’re hitting shots and playing good defense, we’re unstoppable.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.