The Southern Conference women’s basketball tournament dates to the 1983-84 season, and no program has won it more often than the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Just how often? UTC’s 20 titles are 14 more than any other school in the history of the event — six-time winner Appalachian State left the SoCon more than a decade ago, and Mercer’s four championships make the Bears second among current league members — and the Mocs won the past two editions of the tournament after a five-year drought in which a pair of Mercer repeats sandwiched Samford’s title run in 2020.
The Mocs will begin their quest for a third consecutive title Thursday in Asheville, North Carolina, returning to a familiar place and hoping for a familiar celebration, but this time with first-year head coach Deandra Schirmer in charge.
UTC (14-13, 9-5) finished behind only regular-season champion UNC Greensboro in the eight-team SoCon, so the Mocs are seeded second and will take No. 7 seed Mercer (8-21, 3-11) in the first round’s second game, which is scheduled for a 1:15 p.m. tipoff at Harrah’s Cherokee Center. The tourney begins with UNCG (22-6, 13-1) facing No. 8 seed Western Carolina (13-16, 3-11) at 11 a.m., with the Mercer-UTC matchup followed by No. 3 East Tennessee State University (17-12, 8-6) taking on No. 6 Furman (15-15, 5-9) at 3:30 p.m. and No. 4 Wofford (16-11, 8-6) matching up with No. 5 Samford (12-18, 7-7) at 5:45 p.m.
The semifinals are Friday at 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., and the championship game is at noon Sunday on ESPNU, with the one-day break in place as the SoCon men’s quarterfinals are held Saturday on the same court.