CHATTANOOGA --- The saying 'by any means necessary' could not have rung more true than it did Saturday evening in McKenzie Arena, with the Chattanooga women's basketball team just narrowly surviving a late comeback push by ETSU thanks to a pair of Jada Guinn free throws that sealed a 52-50 Mocs victory.

The Mocs (15-3, 3-0 SoCon) are now the last remaining team in the Southern Conference that has yet to lose a conference game after taking down their in-state rivals, the Buccaneers (13-5, 2-1 SoCon) in the Roundhouse. While at one point UTC held as much as a 15-point lead over the Bucs, a late comeback attempt by ETSU saw some heartrates skyrocket over the final 10 minutes of action. However, the Mocs were able to turn to veteran Jada Guinn to connect on two free throws with just 1.3 seconds remaining, sealing the Chattanooga win to remain undefeated in conference play.

Things got off to a very slow start for the Mocs in quarter one, with ETSU controlling much of the opening frame and at one point leading 14-8 on Chattanooga with 2:24 remaining in the frame. That wouldn't stop the Mocs from fighting their way back into the game, as Sigrun Olafsdottir would help ignite an 8-0 scoring run by UTC to close out the quarter by connecting on a three-pointer for the Mocs. It would be one of her three made three-pointers in the opening 10 minutes of action.

With one last driving layup by freshman Caia Elisaldez with just three seconds remaining in the quarter, the Mocs made their way back to their bench now holding a 16-14 lead on the Buccaneers as McKenzie Arena rose to its feet.

While the Mocs were able to continue their run early-on with Karsen Murphy connecting on a three-pointer of her own to open the quarter to give UTC a 19-14 lead, ETSU was able to linger for the remainder of the second frame. Heading into the half, Chattanooga was looking at a narrow 28-23 advantage on the Bucs.

Coming out of the break, the Mocs were looking to swing for the fences and put their rivals away early. Behind a 17-7 scoring charge over the opening 6:50 of the third, Chattanooga was able to build up its largest lead of the day with the scoreboard reading 45-30. While a couple of late baskets would go for the Bucs to close out the quarter, Chattanooga found itself up 46-36 heading into the fourth.

The best way to describe the final 10 minutes of action for UTC would be 'survive and advance', as the Mocs looked to hang onto their lead while ETSU scrapped and clawed its way back into the game. Down to just 1:16 left to play, ETSU's Nevaeh Brown would hit a pull up jumper to level things at 50-50. Both teams then traded stops and timeouts back-and-forth, but things looked as though they were trending towards overtime with the Mocs set to inbound the ball with just 1.6 seconds remaining.

With Olafsdottir throwing the ball in, the Iceland native lobbed the ball up to the team's go-to bucket-getter in Jada Guinn, with Guinn aiming for a tip-in to beat the buzzer. While Guinn couldn't get the shot to fall, she was able to draw a crucial foul with 1.3 seconds left on the clock. The game would be decided over the next two free throw attempts.

Guinn wouldn't let the pressure of the moment faze her, as the grad student sank both from the line to see Chattanooga take a 52-50 lead. While ETSU put up one last gasp to try to force overtime, the shot didn't fall as the Mocs were able to come away with the massive SoCon victory against the Buccaneers.

Guinn ultimately finished the day with team-highs in points (17), rebounds (7), assists (2) and blocks (2). Meanwhile Olafsdottir would conclude her game with new career-highs in both points (16) and three-pointers made (4) in a game. Addie Grace Porter also pitched in on the defensive end for the Mocs, logging a season-high four steals.

FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
Opening statement
"Proud of the kids. We found a way. It was not the prettiest of games for us, but we had two more points than they did. I though we competed hard, we played hard. I thought we had good intent, we just need to clean some things up. A lot of credit to ETSU. They did some things defensively that kind of confused us and we'll be better moving forward."

"Thanks for the fans. That was an atmosphere, you could feel them working again. We want to continue to grow this, so thank you for coming out. Please come back and bring a friend."

On the team relying too much on Jade Guinn and Raven Thompson
"100%. We run everything through them and they took Ray away from us the majority of the game. I though they did a really good job of, in a sense, building a wall for Jada. I thing we've got to create some movement to allow her to get in there and then we make the next which we did early on. Sigrun [Olafsdottir] hits four threes in the first half. We kind of got to stopping and watching it. Another piece is I probably called way too many sets. Let's just play out of motion, play off of each other on this piece. I think for some of it, they rely a little bit too much on me calling he set and I've been trying to get away from it. At times I think we execute really well. Today they did a good job taking those away. We should have played more through out motion and then just taking what they gave us. We learned from it. Glad we had two more points than they did so we can learn from it with a win."

On Sigrun Olafsdottir stepping up her offensive game today
"She's the most selfless kid I've ever coached. She wants to win. She knows that her biggest strength for us is on the defensive side of the ball. The reality is she has not shot the ball as good this year as she did a year ago. She doesn't pout about it. She just keeps coming in and working, working, working. My thing to our team has been this: Addy Grace [Porter] and Sigrun and some of those others are gonna get looks when they start to crowd. When that happens and your number is called, here we go. It was awesome for her because of who she is, to take advantage of those moments early on."

TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
- Today's game marked the 92nd meeting all-time between UTC and ETSU.
- After today's game, the Mocs lead the series 67-25.
- The Mocs are now 35-9 all-time at home against the Buccaneers.
- Chattanooga has now won its past four meetings against ETSU.
- Coach Poppie is undefeated (4-0) versus ETSU in his coaching career.
- Poppie becomes just the second coach in program history to win his first four matchups against ETSU. The other was Jim Foster, who won his first eight against the Bucs.
- Only Grace Keith (3-0) has ended her career undefeated when coaching against East Tennessee State. Keith won all three meetings with ETSU as UTC's head coach.
- Chattanooga has now won its last eight home games in a row.
- This active streak marks the longest home win streak for the Mocs since the 2015-16 season when they strung together nine consecutive home victories.
-  Coach Poppie has a record of 8-3 in SoCon home games in his career.
- Starters: Porter, Guinn, Olafsdottir, Thompson and Murphy. This starting five now is now 13-2 on the year.
- UTC has now led 15 out of 18 games this season at the half.
- Jada Guinn has scored 10+ points in every game this season for the Mocs (18 games).
- Guinn and Thompson have now accounted for 574 of Chattanooga's 1,158 total points on the year (49.6 percent of team's scoring output).
- UTC shot 40 percent (18-for-45) from the floor. The team has shot 40 percent or better from the field in 17 out of 18 games this season.
- This matches the third-fewest points scored by the Mocs in a game this year.
- The lowest is 49 points, which has happened twice in UTC's win over Kennesaw State and in UTC's loss against Coastal Carolina.
- This is the second consecutive game that the Mocs have gone 100 percent from the free throw line (10-for-10).
- Prior to those two games, UTC had never shot 100 percent from the free throw line in a game at McKenzie Arena.
- The Mocs only had four points off the bench in the win, the lowest in a game for the team since they had three bench points against Austin Peay.
- Chattanooga held ETSU to shoot just 1-for-9 from three-point range in the victory.
- That marks a season-low for made three-pointers in a game by a UTC opponent.
- The Bucs' three-point percentage (11.1 percent) stands as the second-lowest allowed by UTC this season. Lowest: 9.1 percent against Kent State.

UP NEXT: UNC GREENSBORO
While the Mocs have a short break before their next tilt, UTC's schedule in the Southern Conference doesn't let up in terms of talent with the Mocs now slated to take on UNCG (13-5, 2-1 SoCon) in Greensboro on Thursday, January 25. Chattanooga is scheduled to tipoff with the Spartans at 7 p.m. ET that evening, and fans will be able to find the game either streaming on ESPN+ or over the radio on 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM.

50 SEASONS OF CHATTANOOGA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The 2023 season for the Chattanooga women's basketball team marks a major landmark for the program and the university, as UTC women's basketball officially celebrates its 50th season of competition as a university sponsored athletic program. Following the adoption of the Title IX legislation back in 1972, UTC added women's basketball, tennis and volleyball programs to its roster of athletic teams, bringing on five decades of history and success for each of the teams. Chattanooga WBB will be putting on multiple promotions and content pieces throughout the 2023-24 season to celebrate the program's history, culminating in the team hosting its 50th Season Celebration and Reunion during the Mocs' February 3 matchup against Furman at McKenzie Arena.

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