GREENVILLE, S.C. --- The Chattanooga women's basketball team earned yet another hard-fought victory on the road Thursday night, fending off a late comeback push by Furman to grab a 60-53 win in Timmons Arena.
The Mocs (24-4, 12-1 SoCon) were looking to get back into the win column after a heartbreaking loss at home last Saturday, and UTC was able to do just that by coming away with the team 12th league victory of the season against the Paladins (14-15, 4-9 SoCon).
Things got off to a slow start for the Mocs over the opening few minutes in Timmons Arena, with Furman jumping out to an early 6-3 lead on UTC. The Paladin lead wouldn't last for long, however, with the Mocs ripping off a 9-0 scoring run over the next three minutes of action. A couple more buckets were exchanged to end the frame, but the Mocs carried an 18-13 advantage into the second quarter thanks to their surge of scoring at the midpoint.
Out of the gates of Quarter 2, the Paladins closed the UTC lead down to just two points but couldn't get much closer than that for the remainder of the half. Chattanooga would then put together yet another 9-0 scoring run that included a Furman technical foul, giving the Mocs their largest lead of the game up to that point. Heading into halftime, UTC found itself in front 33-21 on Furman.
The team's jostled for position for the front half of the third quarter, with Furman only ever getting as close as 11 from UTC. A series of Chattanooga baskets would eventually give the Mocs a 46-30 lead with 4:27 remaining in the third, marking what would be the team's largest lead of the evening.
While the Mocs were aiming to put the game into cruise control for the remaining 14 minutes of regulation, the Paladins had other plans. Furman would finish the quarter on an 8-0 run, cutting the UTC lead down to single digits as the teams swapped sides for the final time. Down to just 10 minutes to play, the Mocs held a 46-38 advantage in Greenville.
Furman continued to make their late push, inching ever closer to the Mocs with Chattanooga now leading 49-44 with just a little over five minutes remaining in regulation. While the Mocs continued to hit baskets, fouls and turnovers plagued UTC's chances of blowing their lead back up on the Paladins.
Down to just 20 seconds left on the clock, Chattanooga was looking at a narrow 57-53 lead as Furman started to play the foul game. Thankfully for the Mocs, free throws from the likes of Sigrun Olafsdottir and Kailyn Farrell along with a clutch block on the defensive end by Addie Grace Porter proved to be the dagger in this one with UTC able to pull away to a 60-53 road win.
The win moves Chattanooga to 10-0 in true road games in the 2023-24, leaving just the Mocs and the No. 1 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks as the only two teams in the NCAA yet to be defeated on the road. The Mocs have only ever finished a regular season undefeated on the road once before, back during the 1999-2000 season (finished 12-0).
The Mocs were able to rely on a well-rounded scoring attack throughout the night with three players finishing in double-digits. Jada Guinn would lead all scorers for UTC with 12 points along with tallying a season-high seven assists for the Mocs. Guinn was able to surpass yet another scoring milestone in the process, officially hitting the 1,500-career point threshold. Raven Thompson also had herself a day, notching her fourth double-double of the season and eighth of her career, finishing with 11 points and a season-best 14 boards.
Finally, Addie Grace Porter rounded out the Mocs that finished in double-digits with the junior scoring 11 points of her own on the night. Porter wrapped up her night with a team-high three steals too, marking her 11th time she's led the team in the category this season.
FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
Opening statement
"First and foremost, winning on the road – winning anytime – is hard. And we will take every one of them. But the reality is that it's 28 games into the season and we are not learning. We made the exact same mistakes that we made last Saturday at the exact same times. They just didn't make the shot. I'm happy. Don't get me wrong. We competed and did some things, but if we really want to win a championships next weekend up in Asheville, it has to be better. It's a frustrating part as a coach. You talk about it. You deal with it. We have failure, you continue to watch film. And then we make the same mistakes. It's hard. I have to find a way for them to learn and to play free down the stretch. We can't make those and think that we're going to win a championship next weekend, but I take every win, especially those on the road. We are now one game away from being one of two teams on the year undefeated on the road and it's very hard to do. So I don't want to take that for granted. It's a good position to be in when you're a little frustrated after a loss. I'm proud of the kids. I thought we had a lot of big minutes. I thought Raven Thompson was aggressive again. We should have got her some more looks. I thought in a sense Hannah [Kohn] gave us some good minutes. We went more defensive down the stretch or else she would have played a little bit more. Addie [Grace Porter] I thought tried to lead us. She did a lot of good things. Eleven points from her is great. We've got to find ways. They got 30 points in the paint. It was part of a game plan. We're not doing our work early so we're gonna have to figure that out. Winning is a lot better than losing."
On not quitting
"I guess if we learned one thing, we learned that while we went through that same stretch last Saturday is that we found a way to make a couple more plays. You can't go 5-for-11 in the fourth, 3-for-4 from the free throw line and still get outscored when they're shooting 25 percent. That's turnovers and offensive rebounds. That's a mental thing. That's a finish thing. The percentages are great. Forty four percent from the floor, 35 from three and 70% from the free throw line. That'll win you a lot of ball games, but the mental things in between, we cannot do that to win a championship."
TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
- This was the 92nd meeting all-time between Chattanooga and Furman.
- UTC now leads the all-time series 61-31.
- The Mocs are 28-16 when playing the Paladins in Greenville.
- Today marked the fourth time in program history that the Mocs have played on a Leap Day.
- UTC is now 3-1 all-time when playing on a Leap Day.
- The other times include in 1980 against Tennessee, 1984 against ETSU and 2020 against ETSU.
- The Mocs have now won their last five meetings with Furman in a row.
- The last UTC loss to Furman came on March 3, 2022 in the SoCon Tournament.
- Coach Poppie is now 5-0 when coaching against the Paladins.
- This win also secures the 2-0 season sweep for the Mocs over Furman.
- Chattanooga moves to a perfect 10-0 record in true road games this season.
- The last time UTC started 10-0 in road games in a season: 1999-2000 season (went on to finish 12-0 on the road that year).
- The last time UTC won 10 straight true road games in a season: 2014-15 season (10 straight road wins).
- UTC has won 10+ games on the road in a single season a total of 13 times including this year, most recently in 2014-15 (went 11-2).
- The Mocs have only ever finished undefeated on the road once before in program history in 1999-2000 (12-0).
- The Mocs have now hit 24 wins on the season. This is the 15th time in program history the Mocs have had 24+ wins in a season.
- Mocs now move to 12-1 in SoCon play.
- Shawn Poppie is now 21-6 in Southern Conference games at UTC.
- Coach Poppie has led the Mocs to his second consecutive 20-win season, with UTC sitting at a 24-4 record overall this season.
- Poppie is now just the second coach in program history to have 20-win seasons in each of his first two seasons with the team.
- The other coach was Jim Foster, who had 29-win seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
- Starters: Porter, Guinn, Olafsdottir, Thompson and Murphy. This starting five now is now 22-3 on the year.
- Guinn and Thompson have now accounted for 915 of Chattanooga's 1,792 total points on the year (51.1 percent of team's scoring output).
- UTC has now led 25 out of 28 games this season at the half.
- Held a lead as large as 16 points at one point.
UP NEXT: WOFFORD
The Mocs will now close out their 2023-24 regular season this Saturday by hitting the road for Spartanburg, South Carolina, to take on Wofford (16-11, 8-5 SoCon) at 2 p.m. ET. The game will serve as one final test for UTC prior to the 2024 SoCon Tournament, which kicks off Thursday, March 7, as the Mocs will be facing a Terriers team that would be the No. 2 seed if the season were to end today. Saturday's game in Spartanburg can be found on ESPN+ for viewers or via WFLI over the radio.
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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