The Chattanooga women’s basketball team fell 62-56 to Mercer Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at The McKenzie Arena in Southern Conference action. The Mocs are 12-15 overall and 7-5 against the league while Mercer secured the regular season title, improving to 20-7 on the year and 12-0 in SoCon play.
"Overall, it was not an effort issue tonight and I am thankful for that,” Chattanooga head coach Katie Burrows said. “We have to knock down shots in order to win."
Mercer largest lead of the game came with 5:30 to play in the game, but the Mocs put together a 10-2 run over the next 5:12 to cut it to 58-56 on a layup from Brooke Burns.
She scored six of her team-high 17 points in the run, but the Mocs couldn’t connect on their final two tries. UTC was forced to foul in the final seconds, and Mercer connected on all four free throws to close it out.
Burns was the only Chattanooga player in double figures with a season-high 17 points. She scored 11 in the second half with six in the final period and made the Mocs’ lone 3-pointer and was 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Arianne Whitaker pulled down a season-high 17 rebounds for Chattanooga, just two shy of her career-high, and had nine in the final period. She grabbed six on the offensive glass in the game while adding eight points and two blocked shots in the effort.
Mercer opened the game 11-4 against the Mocs, but UTC cut the Bears lead to 13-12 by the end of the first quarter. That push was part of a 10-2 run by Chattanooga that spanned two quarters and more than five minutes to give the Mocs a 14-13 lead on a pair of free throws by Burns at the 9:20 mark of the second quarter.
The lead bounced back and forth the rest of the half and Lakelyn Bouldin scored four of her eight points at the end of the second quarter to tie the game 27-27 heading into halftime.
The Mocs largest lead of the game, 42-38, came with 4:29 to play in the third quarter on a layup from Eboni Williams. Mercer responded with the next eight points and their lead climbed to as high as 56-46 midway through the fourth quarter.
Chattanooga made an effort the retake the lead but couldn’t get the shots to fall with Mercer outscoring UTC 14-12. There were eight ties and seven lead changes in the game and the Mocs outrebounded the Bears 41-38. In the paint, UTC held the advantage 32-26 but Mercer converted 10 UTC miscues into 11 points while Chattanooga scored six points on six Mercer turnovers.
Bouldin and Williams each added eight points for the Mocs who shot 23-of-64 (35.9%). Bouldin had seven rebounds and Williams pulled down five. From long range, UTC was 1-of-8 and made 9-of-10 free throws.
Mercer was 25-of-63 (39.7%) on the day and went 1-of-8 from the 3-point line while making 11-of-13 free throws.
"We didn't shoot it particularly well, obviously,” Burrows said. “Neither of us did to be honest. We were both 1-for-8 from three. They made a couple more foul shots than we did and a couple more shots that we did, and obviously that is the difference.”
Chattanooga bid farewell to its seniors, NaKeia Burks, Shelbie Davenport and Molly Melton after the game in the home closer. UTC will finish the season on the road at UNCG Thursday and Western Carolina Saturday afternoon. Follow all the action online at GoMocs.com.