Tennessee coach Pat Summitt is trying to figure out how her Lady Vols won, while her Chattanooga compatriot Wes Moore was at a loss wondering how his Lady Mocs narrowly missed making history Friday night as UT overcame a late eight point deficit to escape with a 66-63 victory at McKenzie Arena.
“I’m very proud of our kids and I am disappointed in myself,” Moore said afterwards. “I know it will stick with me awhile.”
“The Tennessee tradition, Pat Summitt and all those things,” he added. “When you get a chance like this, you hate to let it slip away.”
“I feel like I let them down. Nobody remembers when you come close.”
The 7,008 spectators, which was the fourth largest crowd for a women’s game in Chattanooga, would beg to differ. The Lady Mocs (1-1) were leading 61-53 with six minutes remaining leading the majority to believe they would be witnessing Chattanooga’s first victory over the Lady Vols (2-1) in almost 36 years.
However, the two time defending national champions, making their first appearance in Chattanooga in four years, outscored the Lady Mocs 13-2 highlighted by Alicia Manning’s crucial – and the Lady Vols’ only - trey to tie the game at 63 with 1:21 remaining followed by Vicki Baugh’s go-ahead free throw with 52 seconds left after Chattanooga’s Shanara Hollinquest fouled out with 52 seconds left to give the Lady Vols a 64-63 lead.
Baugh was making her first appearance of the season after the sophomore injured her knee during Tennessee’s NCAA championship win over Stanford in April.
Chattanooga had one final opportunity with two seconds on the clock until Megan Rollins who was unsuccessfully trying to find an open teammate on a long pass unwittingly called a timeout unaware that the Lady Mocs had none remaining which resulted in a costly technical foul.
“We didn’t do a good job stressing that we were out of timeouts which falls on my shoulders,” Moore said.
Tennessee’s Cait McMahan sank the technical free throw and Shekinna Stricklen followed with hers after being fouled by Jenaya Wade-Fray.
“They didn’t quit and found a way to win it in the end in spite of not defending the three ball and shooting poorly at the line,” Summitt said afterwards.
The stats reflected Tennessee’s struggles as the Lady Vols connected on just 21 of 61 field goals (34.4 percent), one of 11 three point attempts and only 23 of 43 foul shots (53.5 percent).
Meanwhile, the Lady Mocs outscored the Lady Vols 19-1 during a five minute stretch midway through the second highlighted by five treys, including back to back three pointers from Bailey Dewart, which gave Chattanooga a 53-50 lead at the 10:14 mark. UTC was more successful with 19 of 52 field goals (36.5 percent), 9 of 23 three pointers (39.1 percent) and 16 of 17 at the foul line (94.1 percent).
Summitt did not mince words describing her young team’s struggles with learning the Lady Vol defense which also was evident during UT’s 83-82 loss to 15th ranked Virginia Monday night in Knoxville.
“Our defense is not good right now,” she said. “We’ve done OK in practice, not great, but we’ll figure out a way to get better.”
“We have such a long uphill battle for getting it right defensively.”
However, she also noted that the absence of sophomore Angie Bjorklund (back spasms), freshman redshirt Kelley Cain and Baugh has made the task more difficult.
“We’ve been without three players who are difference makers,” Summitt remarked. “When they are back, we’ll be a lot better.”
Fouls were also a sizable factor in the game with a total of 50 – 30 called on the Lady Mocs and 20 assessed on the Lady Vols. Erin Ogan, a senior from Knoxville, was the second Lady Moc to foul out with five seconds left.
Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week Glory Johnson led the Lady Vols with 19 points and 13 rebounds while classmate Alyssia Brewer finished with 10.
Johnson has had double doubles in her first three regular season games as a Lady Vol.
Hollinquest topped Chattanooga with 17 points and 11 rebounds followed by Dewart’s four treys translating to 12 points.
The Lady Mocs travel to Murfreesboro on Tuesday to face Middle Tennessee while the Lady Vols return to action Sunday hosting Louisiana Tech in Knoxville.