With the game on the line, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team made one too many mistakes, and it cost them in an 81-79 loss to UT-Martin on Wednesday night at McKenzie Arena.
On an inbound play with 4.4 seconds remaining and the score tied at 79, Shelbie Davenport's pass intended for freshman Eboni Williams sailed out of bounds to give the Skyhawks the chance for the win. Emane Williams hit a jumper in the lane with 0.2 seconds remaining to deliver.
"We were looking for (Eboni Williams) to get it right at the rim and go up strong," UTC coach Katie Burrows said of the Mocs' failed inbound attempt. "I felt she'd either get a bucket or they were going to foul her and put her on the line. And she did not go to the rim.
"Relying on a freshman to do that was a risk. She will learn from that, and she won't make that mistake again."
UT-Martin (5-2) used 12 players to pressure the Mocs, continually forcing them to make bad decisions with the ball. Unfortunately for UTC, the Skyhawks took advantage of that far too often.
"Our turnovers are killing us, and that was very evident tonight," Burrows said. "Not only did we have 23 turnovers, but they scored 31 points off those turnovers. They did a great job in that respect. Their whole scheme is designed to speed you up, and it did just that to us."
UTC (4-4) was playing without senior point guard Molly Melton for a second consecutive game, forcing junior Lakelyn Bouldin to carry much of the leadership burden for the Mocs. She responded with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, but she was forced to play almost 37 minutes.
"I've got to have somebody on the floor who will and wants to take care of the ball," Burrows said. "I felt like it was a hot potato in the first half. Nobody wanted the responsibility, but Lakelyn took it on her shoulders.
"But I need some people to rally around her. She can't play 36 minutes every night, especially with such a tight schedule right now."
Bouldin made no excuses for herself or her teammates, who led by as many as nine points in the third quarter before the Skyhawks started their comeback.
"We can't let a team like that back into the game," she said. "They capitalized on our mistakes, and we needed to do the same to them."
UTC was led by freshman Morgan Hill with 15 points. Brooke Burns added 11 and Arianne Whitaker had 10, but UTC struggled to score in the second half and had no 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes. UTC shot 48.9 percent from the floor for the game, but the Mocs were just 7-for-20 on field goals in the second half.
UT-Martin was led by Damiah Griffin (17 points) and Aundrea Adams (11). Adams, Griffin and Chelsey Perry all fouled out, but the Mocs failed to take advantage of the 30 fouls by the Skyhawks and 36 free throws. The Mocs were just 16-for-24 from the line in the second half, including a crucial 0-for-4 stretch with 6:35 to play with a chance to extend a two-point lead.
"It could be fatigue, but those are things where you just have to gather yourself," Burrows said. "It does become a mental thing, and we just have to be tougher."
The Mocs hit the road right after the game for a long bus trip in advance of Friday's game at Central Florida. That will be UTC's sixth game in 12 days, but Burrows wasn't making excuses after her team let one slip away at home.
"We weren't prepared," she said. "You can say it's scheduling, you can say it's me or you can say it's them, but it doesn't matter. The bottom line is we weren't prepared, and they capitalized on our mistakes."
Contact Jim Tanner at JFTanner@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JFTanner.