The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team will take on UNCG and Western Carolina in its final road games of the regular season. The Mocs will face UNCG Thursday night at 7 p.m. and head to Cullowhee, N.C., for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Catamounts.
Chattanooga is 40-6 against the Spartans since the two began competing in 1998. This will be the 47th meeting. Chattanooga is 17-3 against UNCG at home and 17-2 on the road. In the Southern Conference regular season, UTC is 34-3 and 6-1 over the Spartans in the league tournament.
The two teams have gone to overtime once. Chattanooga has won the last 23 meetings and 37 of the last 38 games. UTC’s last loss was January 2, 2007 in Chattanooga.
The Mocs are 15-9 overall and hold a half-game lead over Mercer for first place in the SoCon standings at 9-1. In the conference-only stats, the Mocs are second in scoring with 64.6 points per game and have a 10-point advantage in scoring over their opponents. UTC leads the SoCon in free throw percentage (.766), field goal percentage (.465) and field goal percentage defense allowing SoCon foes to shoot 35 percent from the field.
Chattanooga’s rebounding margin is best against the SoCon with 4.7 more rebounds per game while leading the league in blocked shots with 6.8 per game.
The Mocs lead the nation in fewest fouls per game averaging 9.9 with a nation-low 237 in 24 games. UTC is fifth in the NCAA for blocked shots and 21st for fewest turnovers per game.
Jasmine Joyner leads the nation in blocked shots and is the only one in triple figures with her third straight 100-blocked shot season. She is averaging 4.17 per game and ranks 12th all-time in the NCAA. She is 25th in the NCAA for rebounds and 19th on the defensive glass.
She is the only player in the SoCon averaging a double-double with 12.3 ppg and 10.1 rpg. She recorded her ninth double-double of the year, 47th in the NCAA and leads the conference, and was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week for both the league and College Sports Madness.
Chelsey Shumpert is second on the team in scoring with 11 points per game and leads the SoCon in free throw shooting making 82.4 percent of her attempts. She moved to eighth all-time at UTC for 3-pointers made with 146 overall and ranks second on the team this season with 37 on the year.
UNCG, winless in the Southern Conference last season, is 5-6 so far this season, ranking fifth in the SoCon standings. Overall the Spartans are 14-12. The Spartans are averaging 62.7 points per game, outscoring opponents on the year by 4.6 points per game. UNCG is also outrebounding opponents by a 4.6 margin. The Spartans are shooting 39.8 percent from the field and 29.6 from the 3-point line. At the charity stripe, UNCG is shooting 64.5 percent and average nine steals per game.
Nadine Solimon is the only Spartan in double figures with 16.3 points per game and has 4.0 rebounds per game. Te’ja Twitty leads the team on the boards with 7.5 rebounds per game and is second in scoring with 9.2 points per game.
The game is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. at Alumni Gym. Get live stats, streaming audio and streaming video on the SoCon Digital Network. Follow the action live on Real 96.1 FM.
Chattanooga is 71-11 against Western Carolina dating back to 1979. All but one game between the two were in SoCon competition. At home, UTC is 34-5 against the Cats and 28-6 in Cullowhee. The Mocs downed Western Carolina 67-46 earlier this season at the Roundhouse.
Western Carolina is last in the SoCon standings with a 2-9 conference record and are 7-19 overall. The Catamounts average 56.8 points nd 36.1 rebounds per game. They are shooting 36.5 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from the 3-point line. At the free throw line, WCU is shooting 69.1 percent and has 11.0 assists per game.
Raziyah Farrington and Sharae Bonner are both averaging double figures with 10.3 and 10.2 respectively. Bonner leads the team with 9.3 rebounds per game, second in the SoCon standings. Farrington and Tess Harris have 55 of the Cats 119 3-pointers.
Saturday’s game will tip off at 2 p.m. at the Ramsey Center. The game will be aired live on ESPN3. Follow all the action at GoMocs.com.