The Chattanooga Lady Mocs basketball team will be playing Rutgers on Saturday at 11 a.m. at McKenzie Arena in the opening round of the NCAA.
Following 30 minutes after that game will be Vanderbilt versus David Lipscomb.
There will be an ESPN announcing and camera crew here for the games. ESPN will be watching games at four different sites and likely will shift to the game where there is the most action, Merrill Eckstein of the Greater Chattanooga Sports Committee said.
Mr. Eckstein said Monday afternoon that 4,701 tickets at $20 each have been sold for the two sessions - Saturday and Monday. He said single game tickets go on sale Tuesday at $12 each. The two-game tickets will still be available to $20.
Noting that McKenzie Arena holds 11,200 fans, he said, "We are pleased with the numbers, but we won't come close to filling it up. The only chance we had for that is if we had gotten the Lady Vols."
He is pulling for the Lady Mocs to win to help boost the Monday sales, and he is hoping the Monday contest will be at night.
UTC received the No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region, the highest seeding in the 21-year history of Southern Conference women’s basketball.
The UTC-Rutgers winner will play the Vanderbilt-Lipscomb survivor on Monday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16 in Norman, Okla.
The Lady Mocs are 28-2 overall and have the longest active winning streak in the nation at 26 games. UTC owns the No. 1 winning percentage in the nation (93.3 percent) and the most wins in the nation. They are making their fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and sixth overall.
The Scarlet Knights (21-11) were the surprise team in the Big East Tournament. Rutgers came into the tournament as the seventh seed but advanced to the championship game where they lost to Boston College. Rutgers, which finished 10-6 in the Big East, owns impressive wins this season over current No. 20 TCU and No. 23 Miami (Fla.), plus Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion.
UTC and Rutgers have two common opponents – Ole Miss and Tennessee. The Lady Mocs defeated Ole Miss 79-77 in overtime and Rutgers handed the Lady Rebels a 65-50 setback in the preseason NIT. Both teams lost at Tennessee – UTC lost 83-52 and Rutgers lost 59-49.
“Rutgers was in the final four a few years ago,” said UTC coach Wes Moore. “They were just in the Big East Championship game. They have a veteran coach and will be a great challenge for us.”
Rutgers is led by All-America guard Cappie Pondexter, who is a two-time All-Big East selection and is a finalist for three national player-of-the-year awards (Wooden Women’s Award, State Farm Wade Trophy and Naismith) as well as this year’s Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard). A 5-foot-9 junior from Chicago, Pondexter is averaging 18.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
Veteran coach C. Vivian Stringer is in her ninth season with the Scarlet Knights and 32nd year overall. She has led three different teams to 16 NCAA Tournaments, including Cheyney State to the 1982 Final Four, Iowa to the 1993 Final Four and Rutgers to the 2000 Final Four. She has a career record of 695-238 and 175-103 at Rutgers.
“I am surprised the committee did not send Tennessee to Chattanooga,” said Moore, who owns a 137-44 mark in six years at UTC and 337-100 overall record in 15 seasons. “I felt since we were a host site, they would send Tennessee here. I guess it’s just the great fans in Chattanooga that got us the host site. Vanderbilt will bring a very good following and hopefully our fans will fill up the arena.
“I don’t worry about seedings. To me it’s all about matchups. Sometimes you are better off being a 10 or 11 seed than an eight or nine and being matched up with a No. 1 if you win.”
It was felt that Tennessee might be coming to Chattanooga, but the Lady Vols were named the top seed in the Midwest Regional.
UT will be playing 16th seed Colgate at Norman, Okla.