More often than not, the Chattanooga women’s basketball team has found a way to win in just about every game of the 2023-24 season, and that didn’t change on Saturday when the Mocs came out on top 61-52 on the road against a scrappy Mercer team in Hawkins Arena.
Early offensive woes by the Mocs (21-3, 9-0 SoCon) had things looking like it would be a slugfest between UTC and the Bears (11-14, 5-4 SoCon), but strong offensive efforts by Raven Thompson and Jada Guinn paired with countless defensive stops by the Mocs proved crucial as the Mocs came away with their 10th consecutive win.
It’s hard to find a more back-and-forth half of basketball than the opening 20 minutes in Macon, as the Mocs and the Bears traded the lead a total of seven times over the first two quarters of action with neither team building a lead larger than six on the other.
Turnovers plagued the Mocs right from the get-go, recording a total of eight in the opening half. With both teams struggling to find points, every basket was looking as though it would prove crucial in the long run with the score knotted up at 9-9 at the end of the first quarter.
UTC’s offense found some more success on the back of Raven Thompson in the second quarter, with the sophomore forward ending the half responsible for 17 of UTC’s 25 first half points. Offensive woes aside, a strong defensive outing once again played into the Mocs’ hand as Chattanooga took a 25-19 lead into the halftime break.
After making some adjustments in the locker room, the Mocs came out fired up in the second half and refused to let the Bears back into the game. At one point building up an 11-point lead with 4:59 left to play in the third quarter, UTC was now leaning on Jada Guinn to provide buckets down the stretch against the Bears.
Mercer needed to find some offense quickly as they entered the fourth quarter trailing 42-33, so they looked to star Summah Evans to provide that late spark.
Evans, who had dropped a total of 56 points over her previous two games, wasn’t able to find any space however as Sigrun Olafsdottir ultimately held Evans to score just four points on 1-for-10 shooting.
Olafsdottir is quickly cementing herself into the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year conversation, as these shutdown performances as UTC’s primary defender have become the regular for her.
With the Mocs converting at the free throw line and Mercer unable to bust the game open on offense, Chattanooga came out victorious behind a 61-52 effort in Macon. Thompson would end her day scoring a team-best 23 points, while Guinn followed closely behind her with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
This marks the 43rd meeting all-time between Chattanooga and Mercer. UTC now leads the series 22-11. The Mocs are now 9-7 when playing Mercer in Macon.
With the win, the Mocs now secure the 2-0 regular season sweep against the Bears. UTC has won its past four meetings against Mercer. The last win for the Bears came on February 3, 2022.
The last time UTC lost in Macon came on January 8, 2022, falling 69-52.
Chattanooga's win streak has now reached a season-best 10 straight victories. This is the longest win streak for the Mocs since stringing together 11 straight wins during the 2015-16 season.
This is the 12th straight win over a SoCon opponent (9 regular season wins), marking the longest stretch since 16 from Jan. 30-Jan. 26, 2017.
The Mocs have now hit 21 wins on the season. This is the 17th time in program history the Mocs have had 21+ wins in a season.
21 wins in first 24 games are most since the same total in the 29-4 2015 SoCon Championship campaign.
Coach Poppie has now led the Mocs to his second consecutive 20-win season, with UTC sitting at a 21-3 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.
The team remains undefeated in the 2024 calendar year. The Mocs also remain undefeated in SoCon play at 9-0 at the halfway point of the SoCon season. The last time Chattanooga started 9-0 in conference action: 2014-15 season (the Mocs went on to finish a perfect 14-0 in SoCon play that year).
UTC has started 9-0 in SoCon action a total of eight times in program history including this season. The team has finished undefeated in the SoCon regular season a total of fives times: 2014-15, 2013-14, 2007-08, 2005-06 and 2003-04.
Chattanooga moves to a perfect 8-0 record in true road games this season. The last time UTC started 8-0 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 eight straight true road games in a season: 2014-15 season (10 straight road wins).
Starters: Porter, Guinn, Olafsdottir, Thompson and Murphy. This starting five now is now 19-2 on the year.
UTC has now led 21 out of 24 games this season at the half.
Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson both finished over 20 points on the day. The last time the pair did that was against Samford on January 13 this season. Guinn and Thompson have now accounted for 776 of Chattanooga's 1,552 total points on the year (50 percent of team's scoring output).
The Mocs shot 38.8 percent (19-for-49) from the floor, just the third time the team has shot below 40 percent from the floor in a game this year.
The Mocs will now head into a week in which they will not have to worry about a midweek game for the final time this regular season, as the Mocs will be able to have a long recoup before hitting the road to travel to Johnson City to take on East Tennessee State (16-8, 5-4 SoCon) at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.
