Jada Guinn scored a career-high 33 points to help lead the No. 1 Chattanooga Mocs women's basketball team to a 66-55 win over No. 4 Mercer in the Southern Conference Tournament semifinal round on Friday afternoon inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
Chattanooga earns its second-straight SoCon title game appearance and 20th in program history while improving to 27-4 overall on the season. The Mocs will face the winner of No. 2 UNCG OR No.
3 Wofford on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET in front of a national TV audience on ESPNU.
Chattanooga opened the game on an 8-2 run over the first five-plus minutes before Mercer answered with six of the next nine points to make it 11-8 (1:03). Jada Guinn knocked down a pair of free throws in the quarter's waning moments to give UTC a 13-8 lead after the frame.
After a pair of Guinn mid-range jumpers and a Raven Thompson finish at the rim gave the Mocs a 19-13 (6:58) lead, the Bears' Briana Peguero converted on a couple open layups to pull the squad within two, 19-17 (5:12). Mercer continued its attack and ended the first half on a 7-0 run to grab a 24-23 lead at the break, marking Chattanooga's first halftime deficit since December 21 (Richmond).
UTC opened the second half with an 8-1 run to build a 31-25 lead (5:13) before the Bears rallied to take their largest lead of the game, 38-34 (1:15), on a Deja Williams triple. Mercer claimed a 40-39 lead at the third-quarter buzzer after the two teams split the 32 points in the frame.
Hannah Kohn provided the spark for the Mocs offense in the early stages of the fourth quarter after knocking down a pair of threes to help put UTC back ahead, 49-46, with 6:35 remaining. From that point, Guinn scored Chattanooga's final 17 points of the game which included a 13-2 game-ending run to help notch the 66-55 victory.
UP NEXT – SoCon Tournament Championship – vs. No. 2 UNCG/No. 3 Wofford – Sunda, March 10 – 12 p.m. ET – ESPNU
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 27-4 · Mercer 15-17 – UTC now leads the all-time series 23-11 and moves to 3-1 in SoCon Tournament meetings.