It wasn't the prettiest finish, but the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team built a double-digit lead Thursday night before having to hold on for a 53-50 win at East Tennessee State University in the Southern Conference opener for both programs.
A league victory in hand, the Mocs (9-7) won't play again until next week, when they host Samford at 7 p.m. Thursday and face Mercer two days after that, also at McKenzie Arena.
UTC either led or was tied with the Buccaneers (13-4) for 38 minutes in Johnson City, building as much as a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter before ETSU rallied back, cutting its deficit to 51-50 with 21 seconds to play. The Mocs didn't make a basket for the final 3:34, but Yazz Wazeerud-Din and Addie Porter each connected on a free throw in the final six seconds, and the Mocs sweated out the Bucs missing a 3-point try at the buzzer.
"We lost our minds a little bit. I'm not going to lie to you," UTC head coach Shawn Poppie said on the postgame radio broadcast. "They have to pay attention to details in the biggest moments, but I've got to hold them accountable and I've probably got to stop losing my head and mind.
"But we came on the road after losing a couple, and for three quarters I thought we were the better basketball team. They made it a dogfight down the stretch, but for three quarters it was easy to look at the eyes and say, 'You know what? The Mocs are better than them,' in my opinion."
Wazeerud-Din finished with 19 points, connecting on four 3-pointers. Raven Thompson had 17 points and seven rebounds, shooting 9-of-10 at the foul line, while Sigrun Olafsdottir had eight points, including a pair of key 3s.
Porter played all 40 minutes and was just 1-for-8 from the field for three points, but she had 13 rebounds and three assists. Poppie praised the effort of sophomore Takia Davis, who started in place of veteran post player Abbey Cornelius, who was battling illness during the week. Davis finished with three rebounds in 13 minutes of work, while Cornelius had four points, nine rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks in 26 minutes.
ETSU's Jiselle Thomas scored 19 points and Kendall Foley added 12 for the Bucs, who trailed 18-11 after the first quarter, 30-22 at halftime and 44-34 entering the fourth.
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.