CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wes Moore jotted a few notes while watching Georgia Southern play the College of Charleston in the Southern Conference women's basketball tournament Saturday morning in Bojangles Coliseum.
A 3-pointer by GSU guard Jessica Geiger with 12.7 seconds remaining meant all the notes on Charleston would be worthless for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach.
The Eagles won 57-56 and will be the Lady Mocs' opponent today at noon in Time Warner Arena.
Moore finished scripting a relatively easy practice for later Saturday at Johnson C. Smith University.
"We're going to go light," Moore said. "I think we maybe went a little too hard during the off day last year. But when you lose, you question everything."
There's no question both teams enter on a roll. The top-seeded Lady Mocs cruised past UNC Greensboro 82-64 on Friday for their fifth win in six games. The fifth-seeded Eagles have now won six straight.
"They've been playing really well lately, and they've won a few games in a row," UTC senior Jenaya Wade-Fray said. "It's going to be a tough game."
The Lady Mocs beat GSU 57-55 in McKenzie Arena on a last-second 3-pointer by Kayla Christopher and later humbled the Eagles 70-48 in Hanner Fieldhouse.
"I'm kind of disappointed that we don't get to play (Charleston) because they beat us and we want to beat them back," said Wade-Fray, who had 10 points and five rebounds Friday. "I think that would have been a little tougher than Georgia Southern. So I'm not too disappointed."
A victory today would put the Lady Mocs (22-8) within a game of their eighth trip to the NCAA tournament under Moore. Wade-Fray has been twice and understands that the pressure to win doubles in each round.
"You don't want to lose and go home," she said. "You don't want to make it this far and then lose."
But UTC's four freshmen have never experienced a SoCon tournament. It didn't seem to faze them Friday.
The freshmen combined for 29 points with Michelle Davis hitting four clutch 3-pointers and Tenisha Townsend hitting three 3s and scoring 15 points.
"Each game is more important," Davis said. "Each win is one step closer to the grand prize."