After a solid start, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team struggled in the middle quarters of a 72-53 loss to Wofford on Saturday night at McKenzie Arena.
The Terriers (18-8, 8-4 Southern Conference) claimed a regular-season sweep of the Mocs with just one week left before the conference tournament.
UTC (16-10, 8-4) travels to face Western Carolina (9-18, 2-10) on Thursday and UNC Greensboro (13-13, 6-6) next Saturday. UTC and Wofford are tied with East Tennessee State (21-7, 8-4) for first in the standings, with Mercer and Samford a game behind at 7-5.
The Mocs were never able to get in a rhythm Saturday. Even a first quarter in which they hit four 3-pointers resulted in just a 20-17 lead, and the Terriers outscored UTC 41-20 in the middle quarters to build an 18-point edge. The Mocs never had an answer for Wofford guard Rachael Rose, who finished with 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting, and Jackie Carman added 18 points and eight rebounds.
"We have to go back to the drawing board," UTC coach Shawn Poppie said on the postgame radio broadcast. "There's going to be a sour taste in our mouths in this arena for a long time, since this is the last time we get a chance to play here this year."
The Mocs were led by Raven Thompson's 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Yazz Wazeerud-Din, one of four seniors honored before the game — Audrey Canter, Abbey Cornelius and Brooke Hampel were the others — had 12 points, while Sigrun Olafsdottir chipped in nine. Cornelius had a team-high eight rebounds but missed all six of her shots.
After the first quarter, UTC shot just 11-of-38.
"We just got our tail whipped as the leaders in the clubhouse as some may call it, and if that doesn't wake you up, I don't know what will," Poppie said. "We get up that mountain, and they came in here and beat us on our home court, so our next game is a very important game. ... Everything's still out there in front of us, but we've got to look in the mirror tonight and figure it out Monday."
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.