Frustrated may not be the proper emotion to describe University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball coach Katie Burrows after Thursday's 50-42 loss at Mercer.
Incredulous is probably more apt.
Defensively, the Mocs did everything they needed to do for most of the Southern Conference matchup in Macon, Georgia. The visitors shot 34% compared to the Bears' 30% and forced 12 consecutive missed shots to start the fourth quarter, which helped UTC briefly take a 40-38 advantage on an Eboni Williams three-point play with 4:03 to go.
But it was almost as if the final stretch mattered more to the Bears (11-4, 5-1) than it did to the Mocs (8-7, 3-3), as the hosts made four of their final eight shots and outrebounded UTC 8-2 in the final span after Williams' go-ahead free throw.
Those hustle points that don't ever seem to get talked about made all the difference this time. The Bears grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to UTC's seven, which led to seven more second-chance points than the Mocs' five. In a game that came down to the little things, the Bears made the extra plays to get the win at Hawkins Arena.
"I'm so furious right now with that effort on the boards," Burrows said on the postgame radio broadcast. "It was just a matter of not battling it out. We took the lead and we gave up an offensive rebound, and they score and they get right back in it, and that's the thing that kills me: We got outhustled and they wanted it more, and that right there cannot happen if you want to be a champion."
The Bears employed a triangle-and-2 defense at times to take Williams and senior forward Bria Dial - the Mocs' two leading scorers this season - out of the action, and it largely worked. Williams finished with seven points - though she did have six rebounds before fouling out in the final 30 seconds - and Dial missed all five of her shots (all but one of them from 3-point range) while going scoreless for the first time since Feb. 2, 2019, a span of 53 games.
Kallie Searcy led the Mocs with eight points, and Abbey Cornelius had 10 rebounds and five assists, both team highs.
Mercer's Jaron Dougherty had 21 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks, while Jada Lewis added 13 points and Amoria Neal-Tysor scored 11. Shannon Titus grabbed 11 rebounds and six steals for the Bears.
The teams meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday at the same site, with the Mocs now looking for their third consecutive series split after having done so against Furman and Samford the past two weekends.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / UTC's Kallie Searcy shoots against UAB's Caitlynn Daniels on Dec. 6 at McKenzie Arena. In the Mocs' 50-42 loss at Mercer on Thursday, Searcy was UTC's leading scorer with just eight points.Mocs star
Cornelius reached double figures in rebounds for the fourth time this season and posted her third game of at least five assists, although Burrows was frustrated the junior forward didn't "look for her shot" at times.
Key stat
Mercer outrebounded the Mocs 46-36. When neither team is shooting the ball well, it's going to come down to the little things, and the additional effort shown by Mercer was the difference because it led to extra possessions.
Turning point
The Bears finished the game on an 8-0 run over the final 1:43, which broke a 42-all tie.
Quotable
"We're going to have to compete in practice tomorrow. That's the bottom line, and we can't sit back and walk through and all that stuff. We've got to get after it, because we've got to set the tone for what we want to do on Saturday." - Burrows
"I just hate feeling like they gutted it out and we didn't. That really bothers me." - Burrows
Final thought
If Burrows' comments are any indication, the Mocs' next workout won't be a comfortable one - and it shouldn't be. As talented as this UTC team has proven to be, the lack of consistency is going to cost it down the line. A win Saturday would help, but it would also just show how up and down the Mocs have been this season.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.