NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (March 7, 2024) --- The No. 1 seeded Chattanooga Mocs women's basketball team used a strong defensive effort and a late scoring attack to help pull away from No. 8 Western Carolina, 64-43, in the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
 
With the win, Chattanooga improves to 26-4 on the season and advances to the SoCon Tournament semifinals tomorrow. The Mocs will face the winner of No. 4 Mercer OR No. 5 ETSU at 11 a.m. ET. The Bears and Bucs tip at approximately 5:45 p.m. ET on Thursday (ESPN+).
 
GAME RECAP
Chattanooga jumped out to a 7-4 lead (6:52) after Sigrun Olafsdottir knocked down the game's first three following a steal on the defensive end of the floor. Hannah Kohn continued the attack from behind the arc with two triples over the next four-plus minutes, helping UTC build an 18-10 lead with 2:26 left in the opening quarter.
 
The Mocs led the Catamounts 20-12 at the end of the first quarter after forcing five turnovers and earning a 9-0 edge in points stemming from turnovers. Top-seeded Chattanooga knocked down four first-quarter triples and shot an efficient 43.8% (7-of-16) from the floor in total.
 
Back-to-back layups from Olafsdottir and Jada Guinn allowed UTC to double up WCU, 24-12 (9:21), early in the second frame and forced the No. 8 seed into calling a 30-second timeout. The Catamounts responded out of the break with six of the next seven points to pull within seven, 25-18, at the 4:34 mark.
 
A Caia Elisaldez layup followed by a Guinn free-throw gave UTC another double-digit lead, 34-24 (2:14), before Western Carolina capped off the half with four unanswered to trim its deficit to six, 34-28. Kohn led all scorers in the half with 12 on a four-of-six shooting effort from three.
 
The Mocs defense locked down after the halftime break and held the Catamounts scoreless for the first seven-plus minutes to help build a 40-28 lead with under three minutes on the clock. A successful and-one from WCU halted the run before UTC closed the quarter with a 42-31 advantage.
 
Chattanooga saved its best offensive frame of the game for last, outscoring Western Carolina 22-12 behind a 63.6% (7-of-11) tally from the floor and a 57.1% (4-of-7) mark from deep to help pull away for the 64-43 victory. After the sizable win, 14 of the 26 (34.6%) wins this season have now come by 16 or more.
 
UP NEXT – SoCon Tournament Semifinals – vs. No. 4 Mercer/No. 5 ETSU – Friday, March 8 – 11 a.m. ET
 
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 26-4 ∙ Western Carolina 6-24 – UTC now leads the all-time series 86-13 and moves to 8-0 in SoCon Tournament meetings.
 
NOTES | MORE
- Chattanooga is appearing as the No. 1 seed for the 18^th time in the SoCon Tournament… now 39-4 all-time as the top seed… 64-21 overall in the event… now 4-0 under second-year coach Shawn Poppie in Asheville.
 
- Jada Guinn reached double figures for the 29th time in 30 total games this season… finished with a game-high 16 on 7-12 FG… grabbed eight boards and dished out four assists… tied with Raven Thompson with a team-best +21 tally.
 
- Hannah Kohn finished with 15 points… went 5-9 3FG… ties season high 3FGM… season total now at 61 3FGM… three shy of tying Lakelyn Bouldin (2016-17) for the program freshman record.
 
QUOTES | MORE
Head coach, Shawn Poppie
On advancing to the semifinals:
"I thought we showed a lot of grit, especially in the second half. We got up 10- or 12 in the first half but then lost a bit of our focus and didn't execute our game plan. We dominated the half but we were only up six. I challenged them in the second half where if we wanted to win this thing, we needed to be more focused. I thought we did that, although we didn't play that way offensively in the third. We stuck with it and the basket finally opened up for us in the fourth. Each game's gonna be different. How we play against Western is gonna be completely different than anybody else. Whoever we play next, ETSU or Mercer, we'll need to execute the mental side of things better."
 
Jada Guinn, Gr., G
On taking the first step with today's win:
"We focused on our defense. That was our plan. It's always been the plan for us. We didn't start off shooting the ball well, so we had to get stops. I think it gave us some energy later and impacted anybody that came in the game. We focused on being together."


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