UTC women fall to Furman in SoCon tournament [photos]

Shelbie Davenport goes up for a short jumper late in UTC's 73-67 loss to Furman in a Southern Conference tournament semifinal Friday in Asheville, N.C.
Shelbie Davenport goes up for a short jumper late in UTC's 73-67 loss to Furman in a Southern Conference tournament semifinal Friday in Asheville, N.C.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - It was a hole that in previous games this season, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team likely would not have fought its way out of.

Down 12 at the end of the first quarter in Friday's Southern Conference tournament semifinal against No. 2 seed Furman, the third-seeded Mocs made it all the way back and then some. They held a two-point lead midway through the final quarter at the U.S. Cellular Center before the Paladins regrouped to pull out a 73-67 win.

The Mocs, who ended their season 14-17, were led by sophomore guard Brooke Burns with 18 points, with Lakelyn Bouldin adding 13. Le'Jzae Davidson led five Furman players in double figures with 18. Tierra Hodges had 14 plus 13 rebounds for the Paladins (19-12), who will face regular-season champion Mercer in Sunday's tournament final.

"Unfortunately, we came out hot last night and we did not today and they did," said UTC coach Katie Burrows, whose team led by 13 after one quarter in Thursday's win over UNC Greensboro. "When you've got a first-quarter deficit where they're shooting 70 percent and we're shooting 27 percent, that's a killer. And so to dig out of that hole made it very difficult for us."

Davidson led Furman's early onslaught, scoring nine first-period points, including the Paladins' final seven as they took a 29-17 lead after 10 minutes. Davidson wasn't finished, though, as she added nine more points in the second quarter.

The Mocs trailed by 13 after a Davidson 3-point basket with 4:40 to go in the half, but Burns hit a pair of 3s to ignite a 14-3 run that pulled UTC within two before the Paladins scored the final four points of the half for a 43-37 lead.

"When they get up like that, I just keep playing as if nothing happened," Burns said. "We just kept trying to move the ball, and eventually in the second (quarter) we started to get the offense going a little bit. But we did a good job of penetrating and getting those good looks; we just didn't connect like we wanted."

The Furman lead was five entering the final 10 minutes, but the Mocs started to assert themselves. A 9-0 run, capped by five points from freshman post Abbey Cornelius, put UTC in front 63-61 with 3:42 to play.

"We could have just rolled over and died today," Burrows said. "But these kids don't know how to. Very, very pleased with the fact that they kept fighting."

Furman's Milica Manojlovic, playing on her birthday, took care of the deficit 72 seconds later with a 3-pointer, and Hodges padded the Paladins' lead to four with an offensive rebound, putback and three-point play. The Mocs did not recover. They came up short on their next four possessions, leading to six Furman free throws to ice the win.

The Paladins made 19 of 20 free throws for the game.

"I'm just proud of this team, the grit that they've shown, the last two games in particular," Furman coach Jackie Carson said. "They had a ton of momentum. We just said, 'They're throwing their punches. We've got to withstand and we've got to throw a punch back.'

"We've had a lot of ups and downs, and I think a lot of people counted us out, but we never stopped believing. This team is special."

UTC returns 11 of its 14 players next season - injured guard Molly Melton, key reserve Shelbie Davenport and Nakeia Burks are the lone seniors - a fact Burrows finds exciting.

"The expectation is that, yes, we'll be a year older and we'll have some new bodies coming in that will allow us to shift some positions," she said. "We're down but not out. We'll be back next year."

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.

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