- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team fell 61-54 at Furman Thursday evening in Southern Conference action. Furman outscored the Mocs 39-29 in the second half used a 10-0 run in the fourth to pull away. Chattanooga falls to 11-13 overall and 6-3 against the league while the Paladins improve to 15-10 on the year and 7-3 in SoCon play.
"Overall, we did not take very good care of the ball,” Chattanooga head coach Katie Burrows said. “We had 12 turnovers against a team that is not really pressuring very much.
We just have to do a better job of staying tight the whole game. I don't think the effort wasn't there. Our kids were playing hard. We just have to put the dang ball in the hole."
Lakelyn Bouldin led four Chattanooga players in double figures with 16 points. Brooke Burns added 12, Arianne Whitaker had 11 and Bria Dial scored 10. The Mocs were 21-of-62 (33.9%) in the effort and 6-of-29 (20.7%) from long range.
Bouldin was 6-of-15 for the game with a pair of 3-pointers. She, along with Whitaker and Molly Melton each had a team-high seven rebounds and Melton added six assists in her first start since December.
After Furman made one free throw at the start of the game, Chattanooga went on a 10-0 run anchored by five points from Bouldin, before Furman called for time. The Paladins quickly got back into the game, cutting UTC’s lead to 10-8, but another momentum shift in the Mocs’ favor put UTC up 19-10 at the start of the second period.
Chattanooga carried a 27-22 lead into halftime and made a quick 7-0 run to start the third quarter for its largest lead of the game, 32-22 with 7:56 to play in the period.
Furman, however, chipped away at the Mocs’ lead and tied the game 39-39 heading into the fourth quarter with scoring from six different players. The Paladins started the frame on a 10-0 run and UTC would get no closer than five points, 56-51 with 1:06 to play.
"It is a game of runs,” Burrows said. “They feed off the [Le’Jzae] Davidson kid. I have been saying it this whole time. She is an X-Factor for them. She was not a part of the first half last time and made a huge difference for them.”
Davidson led all scorers with 20 points, 15 in the second half. Kaitlyn Duncan had 16 points and a game-best nine rebounds along with Milica Manojlovic who also was just shy of a double-double with 12 points.
The teams played even in the paint with each scoring 22 points. Chattanooga scored six second chance points off 15 offensive rebounds while the Paladins had five points off 11 offensive boards.
Chattanooga remains on the road to take on Wofford Saturday afternoon at Richardson Indoor Stadium. The game is set to tip off at 2:00 p.m. Larry Ward will have the call live on Real 96.1 FM and he game will be streamed on ESPN+.