UTC women's basketball team looking to address needs for next season

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team head coach Katie Burrows instructs the Mocs. The UTC Mocs hosted the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Spartans in women's Southern Conference basketball at McKenzie Arena on Feb. 19, 2021.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team head coach Katie Burrows instructs the Mocs. The UTC Mocs hosted the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Spartans in women's Southern Conference basketball at McKenzie Arena on Feb. 19, 2021.

With the spring signing period approaching going into her fourth season as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head coach, Katie Burrows has needs that have to be addressed.

The Mocs were probably the most inconsistent team in the Southern Conference last season. There were peaks; there were valleys. Stringing together multiple wins became a struggle, and against an unorthodox SoCon schedule where the teams played two games against an opponent in a three-day span, that became a problem. The team finished with a 14-10 overall record, a 9-5 mark in the league. They split against the top two teams in the league (Samford and Mercer) as well as the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds. All of that with one of the top two offenses in the league in terms of scoring (third, 63.5) and field-goal percentage (second, 41.6%). They also allowed opponents to shoot the lowest percentage in the league.

But the results weren't always there, and since then, the Mocs have lost four players. Two of those - Bria Dial and Liz Wood - left naturally, by virtue of graduating. But then freshman Anna Walker chose to enter the transfer portal, moving on to Tennessee Tech, and forward Kallie Searcy recently joined her in entering the portal, although she hasn't yet named a destination.

The Mocs do have two players signed for next season in 5-foot-10 point guard Destiny McClendon, who scored over 2,000 points in her Lake Oconee Academy career; and 6-foot forward Leah Jones, who averaged 17 points and nine rebounds to help lead Northpoint Christian School to the Division II-A state semifinals.

But there are holes on the roster. The Mocs are extremely guard-heavy, and the losses of Dial, Walker and Searcy leave a void of three players 5-foot-10 or taller that contributed to the team's success.

So finding size on the interior is important over the next month, when players will be able to sign letters of intent. But will Burrows lean more towards an Abbey Cornelius, an athletic type big who the offense can run through? Or maybe a player in the mold of Searcy, capable of battling down low?

How about both?

Some schools have chosen to be extremely active in the transfer portal, a new trend that teams have found success with. Arizona, the national runners-up, had two starters - Trinity Baptiste and Bendu Yeaney - who transferred in over the past two seasons. Final Four participant Connecticut started Evina Westbrook, who started her career at Tennessee. So there is talent and the potential for immediate contributions to be had, although the number of players in the women's college basketball portal had reached nearly 900 by Tuesday afternoon, according to wbbblog.com.

While Burrows admitted she was "looking at the portal," she's not planning on using it exclusively to find the necessary pieces.

"Let's be honest. If you can get a player with experience in the portal, you do it," Burrows said. "I don't want a bunch of transfers. I think you do have to go out there and get some talent. You have got to develop them the way that you envision them to fit within your program and the way you envision for themselves. You want to help with that, but I think it's nice to be able to have a balance when you're looking at the bigger picture."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.

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