CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Lady Mocs (20-8, 16-3) comeback effort was thwarted by Western Carolina (16-11, 12-7) Saturday afternoon at the McKenzie Arena as Chattanooga bid farewell to its two seniors as UTC fell 56-52 on Senior Day.

With the Lady Mocs trailing 49-37 with 7:34 to play in the game, junior Shanara Hollinquest hit a layup to spark a 13-3 run over the next 5:18 to draw Chattanooga to within 52-50 with 2:16 to play. Senior LaCondra Mason, playing in her last regular season home game with Chattanooga, exploded for seven points in the run to close out the game with 12 points.

Kaila'Shea Menendez hit a pair of free throws to put the Catamounts back up by two with less than two minutes to play and Jenaya Wade-Fray, with 13 points on the day, hit a pair from the charity stripe to cut it back to two with 1:29 to go.

After a 30 second time out, a foul by UTC's Tagan Hatchett sent Kendra Carroll to the line. On the miss, Mason grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast but was fouled on the layup attempt that wouldn't fall.

Mason's free throws wouldn't fall and Heather Swayne connected on a pair to put the Catamounts up 56-52 for the final score.

Western Carolina out rebounded the Lady Mocs 46-33 with 16 offensive boards. Chattanooga had just 11 turnovers in the game and scored 16 points off 18 Catamount errors. The Lady Mocs struggled from the outside making a season-low two from the 3-point line in 18 attempts and shot 34.6 percent for the game, 42.3 percent in the second half.

Swayne led the Lady Cats with 13 points and Brooke Johnson had 10 points and six boards while Menendez had 10 points as well.

Hatchett had a season-high five assists and Wade-Fray made three steals in the game and Mason had a pair of swipes.

The Lady Mocs fall a half game behind Samford for the SoCon lead and will face the Bulldogs next Saturday in Birmingham, Ala., at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.