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- Lady Mocs Basketball season ends too early
- Mocs are 2008 SoCon Wrestling Champions
- Anderson Player of the Year; three UTC players on All-SoCon Team
Lady Mocs Basketball season ends too early
Great effort by #12 seed against fifth-seeded Kansas State
The No. 12 seeded Lady Mocs fell 69-59 to fifth-seeded Kansas State in the opening round of the women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Sunday at the Arena at Harbor Yard, ending the nation’s longest winning streak at 24.
Chattanooga closes out its season at 29-3 while the Wildcats will advance to the second round to take on #4 Louisville for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 in New Orleans next weekend. The 29 wins equals the most wins in school history for the Lady Mocs.
Laura Hall led the Lady Mocs with a 19-point effort, scoring 17 of those in the second half, to lead three Chattanooga players in double figures. Brooke Hand went 5-for-13 from the 3-point line for 15 points in the game and Shanara Hollinquest, who started the game with the Lady Mocs’ first seven points, had 12.
Hall nailed a trio of 3-pointers and was 2-for-2 from the floor while Hand hits a personal-best for the NCAA tournament with five long range bombs. She improved her SoCon leading 3-point total to 315 for her career.
Kansas State jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game before Hollinquest hit the first of her three field goals. She would put Chattanooga on top at the 16:22 mark with a lone 6-0 run. The Wildcats pushed the lead up to as much as three as neither team could find the mark for more than four minutes in the opening half.
Anderson was fouled as she hit a layup to tie the game at 9-9 with 10:27 to play in the half and nailed her free throw to put Chattanooga up for the second time at 10-9. Kansas State again ran the score up to a six point lead at 16-10, but a trio of 3-pointers from Hall and Hand quickly gave UTC the advantage. Hall drained her third consecutive trey to give the Lady Mocs their largest lead of the half at 22-18 with 6:24 to go.
However, UTC would score just two points to the Wildcats seven and Kansas State carried a slender 25-24 lead into the half. Chattanooga went just 8-of-26 (30.8%) in the half with four 3-pointers and was 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. KSU shot just a little better at 33.3 percent (9-of-27) with three 3-pointers.
In the second half Chattanooga got off to a hot start and quickly built up a seven point lead at 36-29 with 16:31 to go in the game with Hand hitting a pair of 3-pointers and Anderson getting into the action with four points off one layup and a pair of free throws.
Kansas State pounded back and knotted the game twice before getting the lead for good at 40-39 with 13:44 to play on a pair of free tosses from Kelsey Nelson who had a game-high 20 points.
The Lady Mocs would draw as close as one point three more times in the game with the latest being 60-59 with 1:21 to play, but a flurry of free throws at the end pushed the lead to its largest with Kansas State coming away with the first round win.
Chattanooga shot much better in the second half making 12-of-30 attempts (40.0%), but the Wildcats hits 52 percent of their shots making 13-of-25 from the floor and were a perfect 17-of-17 from the free throw line.
Anderson had four assists, nine points and nine rebounds for the Lady Mocs, just missing her 12th double-double of the season. Hollinquest had five boards while Hand pulled down four. Erin Ogan grabbed five rebounds for the Lady Mocs and dished out three assists. UTC was 11-of-13 from the free throw line and 8-of-21 from the beyond the 3-point arc.
Four Wildcats were in double figures led by Nelson’s 20. Marlies Gipson and Shalee Lehning each had 12 while Kari Kincaid has 10. Lehning had a team-high eight boards and seven assists, while Nelson and Shana Wheeler each has six rebounds.
The Lady Mocs will graduate five seniors in Alex Anderson, Laura Hall, Brooke Hand, Amy Mohr and Kristen Spann. This quintet accounted for 4,500 of Chattanooga points, more than 50 percent, over the last four years and led the Lady Mocs to four Southern Conference titles and three NCAA tournaments.
Anderson completes her career with 1,732 points, fifth all-time and 1,010 career rebounds, second all-time and only the second player in Lady Mocs history to grab over 1,00 rebounds. She is the all-time shot blocking leader with 221 blocks. She and Hand have played in127 games for the Lady Mocs, the most by any Chattanooga player all-time.
Hand leaves with the Southern Conference record for 3-pointers with 315 over her career. She also holds the single-season mark with 90 in her junior year and has a SoCon tournament record 12 last year.
Hall closes her remarkable career with 121 starts in 123 games. She just missed 1,000 points with 972 and is ranked among the school’s top 10 for 3-pointers (145) and assists (429).
Mocs are 2008 SoCon Wrestling Champions
Chattanooga won five individual Southern Conference wrestling titles and claimed its 23rd overall SoCon Championship.
Cleveland places 8th at NCAA Championships.
The Mocs, the only current or former SoCon member to win more than 10 league crowns, produced weight class winners at 125 pounds, 141, 157, 174 and 184. Chattanooga took the team title with 104.5 points, edging Appalachian State who finished second with 86.5 points.
Each individual champion earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t qualify more guys,” UTC Head Coach Chris Bono said. “But I am very proud of our team. We had eight guys in the finals. All five of our champions had outstanding tournaments.”
UNC Greensboro, which placed third with 71.5 points, had three champions and a runnerup. The Mountaineers ended up with one champion, two-time titlist Scott Ervin at 149, and put four others in the championship finals. Ervin was the Co-Wrestler of the Year and edged UTC’s Joey Knox, 4-3.
VMI rounded out the division winners as heavyweight Josh Wine, seeded third, edged UNCG’s top-seeded Ryan Hsu, 4-3. Wine was the only non-No. 1 seed to earn a title.
UTC’s Javier Maldonado completed an undefeated SoCon career to win the 125-pound title. He won his third straight 125-pound championship with a 15-4 major decision over Davidson’s Ben Altman. Maldonado, a senior, finished with a remarkable 22-0 record against SoCon opponents.
Cody Cleveland was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, recording two first-period pins for the Mocs to take home the 141-pound trophy. He pinned Davidson’s Ben Wilmore at 2:08 in the semifinals and won the title with a fall at 2:16 over runnerup Marcus Cox of ASU.
Cleveland wrestled to 8th place at the NCAA Championships. Read more.
Seth Garvin and Lloyd Rogers joined Cleveland as first-time SoCon Champions. Garvin was the 157-pound winner, defeating Appalachian State’s Eddie Hutchinson, 8-2. Rogers, the Co-Wrestler of the Year, registered a 12-5 victory over ASU’s Neal Martin at 174.
UTC senior Josh Edmondson claimed his second straight SoCon title with an 8-3 decision over ASU’s Austin Trotman in the 184-pound match.
UNCG placed three wrestlers at the top of the medal stand. Jeff Hedges defeated ASU’s Terreyl Williams, 6-4 at 133, Byron Sigmon beat UTC’s Nick Davis, 3-0 at 165 and Darren Burns was a 2-1 overtime winner over UTC’s Matt Koz at 197.
Joey Knox (149), Nick Davis (165) and Koz were runnerups for the Mocs. Senior Steve Hromada finished third at 133.
The Southern Conference receives five wildcard entrants to the NCAA Championships. Representing the SoCon in addition to the 10 champions are Hromada, Knox and Koz from Chattanooga and Trotman and Williams from Appalachian State.
Anderson Player of the Year; three UTC players on All-SoCon Team
Chattanooga senior forward Alex Anderson was selected by the Southern Conference women’s basketball coaches as the league’s player of the year for the second consecutive season, garnering a maximum of nine first place votes (coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players). The coaches also selected a 10-member all-conference team, an all-freshman team and five superlative awards.
Chattanooga mentor Wes Moore was selected by his peers as Coach of the
Year, following the Lady Mocs’ third perfect regular season in the past
five years. Chattanooga (26-3, 18-0) enters the SoCon Tournament with the nation’s longest winning streak at 21 games.
In addition to her Player of the Year nod, Anderson was also selected to the All-Southern Conference team. Joining her from Chattanooga were guard Brooke Hand and forward Shanara Hollinquest.
Coaches’ All-Conference Team
Whitney Tossie, Appalachian State
Alex Anderson, Chattanooga
Brooke Hand, Chattanooga
Shanara Hollinquest, Chattanooga
Mercedes Robinson, Davidson
Tierra Bumbrey, Elon
Shawnda Atwood, Georgia Southern
Tiffany Brown, Georgia Southern
Monique Dawson, Western Carolina
Chevon Keith, Western Carolina
All-Freshman Team
Sam Ramirez, Appalachian State
Tonia Gerty, College of Charleston
Monique Floyd, UNC Greensboro
Emily Clarke, Western Carolina
Mahagony Williams, Wofford
Player of the Year – Alex Anderson, Chattanooga
Defensive Player of the Year – Chevon Keith, Western Carolina
Coach of the Year – Wes Moore, Chattanooga
Freshman of the Year – Mahagony Williams, Wofford
Ann Lashley Inspiration Award – Kitara McMoore, Elon
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