The Chattanooga women’s basketball team is set to close out its final two games of the regular season this week in South Carolina, with the Mocs slated to travel to Furman and Wofford for the team’s 13th and 14th games of the SoCon season, respectively.
The Mocs (23-4, 11-1 SoCon) received their first conference loss of the season last Saturday against UNCG. UTC, who still have already secured the SoCon regular season title and SoCon Tournament No. 1 seed, will now look to regain its momentum in the team’s final two regular season games against the Paladins (14-14, 4-8 SoCon) followed by the Terriers (15-11, 7-5 SoCon).
Chattanooga’s week will start at Furman, with the Mocs and Paladins set to tip at 7 p.m.
ET on Thursday, February 29. The Mocs will then close out their regular season on Saturday by traveling to Wofford for a 2 p.m. ET game against the Terriers. Both games will be available to stream on ESPN+ with radio broadcasts through WFLI.
GAME DAY INFORMATION
Opponent: Furman
Date: Thursday, February 29, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Follow the game live online on ESPN+, WFLI, The Varsity App or the GoMocs App. Links are available online at GoMocs.com.
Opponent: Wofford
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Follow the game live online on ESPN+, WFLI, The Varsity App or the GoMocs App. Links are available online at GoMocs.com.
Despite the Mocs having finally dropped their first Southern Conference game of the season this past weekend, UTC remains one of the most well-rounded squads in the league with the Mocs ranking as one of the most efficient scoring teams alongside being one of the best defensive teams in the nation. Chattanooga enters this week ranked as the sixth-best scoring defense in the entire NCAA, only allowing an average of 53.9 points/game to their opponents. This, compounded with the fact that UTC leads the Southern Conference in field goal percentage (.447), three point percentage (.367) and free throw percentage (.787), makes for a deadly combo for any team matching up against them. The Mocs are led by Jada Guinn, who is currently averaging 18.9 points/game alongside 7.1 rebounds/game this season.
The Paladins are looking for a strong end to their 2023-24 campaign, with Furman currently sitting as the No. 7 seed in the SoCon if the season were to end today. While they can’t drop to No. 8, the Paladins are able to jump up to the No. 6 seed with a pair of wins this week over UTC and ETSU along with a Samford loss against Mercer on Saturday. The Paladins have had some inconsistent results throughout the season, coming off of a week where they dropped games to both Samford and Mercer. However, just a week earlier the Paladins were able to topple current No. 2 seed Wofford, meaning that the Furman side can prove dangerous on any given night. The Paladins are led by Jada Session, who is averaging team-highs in points (12.2/game) and rebounds (8.2/game) this season.
Wofford enters the final week of the regular season continuing to hold on tight to the No. 2 seed in the conference, but a recent losing skid for the Terriers has made this week extremely important when it comes to what seed Wofford will end the season as. Right now, Wofford could drop as low as the No. 6 seed depending on how this week’s games go across the league. Much of this can be credited to Wofford’s current three-game losing streak, with the team experiencing losses against Furman, Samford and Mercer all on the road. However, Wofford is still the No. 2 for a reason, and that reason is that the Terriers have been able to turn to Rachael Rose. Rose currently leads the Southern Conference in numerous statistical categories, most notably averaging a league-high 22.1 points/game.
When Chattanooga met these two teams earlier this season in McKenzie Arena, the Mocs were able to claim wins over each with UTC first taking down Wofford 57-51 before going on to defeat Furman 79-62. Against the Terriers, it was the scoring tandem of Jada Guinn and Caia Elisaldez that got the job done for the Mocs, with the pair combining for 33 of UTC’s 57 points. Later that weekend against the Paladins, it was a different duo that helped the Mocs earn another W with Raven Thompson and Hannah Kohn combining for 33 points of their own in the win.