The opponent was different. The game felt very familiar.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team lost 58-53 to Samford on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena, and although UTC was facing the Bulldogs for the first time this season, the Southern Conference matchup followed a similar script to so many contests for the 2022-23 Mocs.
UTC, for the seventh time in its eight losses overall, was either tied or held a lead in the fourth quarter.
The Mocs were ahead 53-52 with two minutes to go Thursday, and they had two chances to build on that lead. But after a missed 3-pointer and a turnover, the Bulldogs converted a basket inside to take the lead. The Mocs' final two possessions resulted in missed shots, while Samford sank a basket and hit a pair of free throws to seal its victory, even up its overall record at 9-9 and remain undefeated three games into conference play.
The Mocs (9-8, 1-1) host Mercer (6-10, 2-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
"It seems like we've been in that situation in every game this year, so we just have to find a way to finish," said UTC fifth-year forward Abbey Cornelius, who had 16 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. "That's something we'll keep trying to figure out and hopefully get better at down the stretch.
"It's frustrating. We're sitting right there towards the end, but we're always trying to work on it and it's something we have to change."
Yazz Wazeerud-Din matched Cornelius in points, connecting on five 3-pointers, while freshman forward Raven Thompson had 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The Mocs held Andrea Bailey, the conference's leading scorer coming in at 18.2 points per game, to her second-worst shooting performance of the season at 2-for-12 from the field. However, Bailey was 8-for-8 at the free-throw line while recording team highs with 13 points, five assists and four steals, and she also had six rebounds — one behind Emily Bowman's team high.
Masyn Marchbanks and Kathleen Wheeler added 11 points apiece for the Bulldogs, and Sussy Ngulefac scored 10.
It was 11-all after one quarter in a game that would be tied four times and have eight lead changes. UTC was up 27-24 at halftime, then trailed 43-37 going into the fourth quarter before going ahead again late but failing to hang on to its slim advantage.
"Unfortunately, we're back here with what feels like a similar result," first-year UTC coach Shawn Poppie said. "We're going to keep growing and keep working and find a way to finish one of these things, and then hopefully one turns into two turns into three. That's a well-coached Samford team, and she (head coach Carley Kuhns) does a wonderful job.
"I thought we did some good things on the defensive end, but offensively we were not consistent enough."
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.