TERRE HAUTE, IN - Chattanooga’s second appearance in the preseason Women’s NIT ended as early as its first with a 74-53 loss to Indiana State Friday night at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Ind.
“They played with a bit more intensity than we did tonight,” Lady Mocs’ Head Coach Wes Moore said. “If we could have played the first half like we did the second, the outcome may have been different.”
After trailing early, Chattanooga found itself in the second half outscoring the Sycamores 40-34, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 27-point halftime deficit. The Lady Mocs were in foul trouble early with five team fouls less than five minutes into the game, the first two on senior Katasha Brown. Before the half ended, UTC had 10 fouls and Alex Anderson was called for three.
Scoring in the first half was difficult as well for the six-time Southern Conference champs who netted its first basket at the 14:02 mark and trailed by 27 points at the break. The Sycamores closed out the first half on a 10-1 scoring run and combined that with a 10-0 run earlier in the half. ISU outscored Chattanooga 25-7 in the final 9:13 to lead 40-13 at the half.
Down by 19 with just over five minutes to play in the game, the Lady Mocs put together an 8-0 scoring run started by a pair of free throws by freshman LaShandra McCoy and ended with another pair from sophomore Kristen Spann to pull Chattanooga to within 11. It was the closest UTC would get.
Senior forward Tiffani Roberson was the lone Chattanooga player in double digits with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds. She led off the second half with six of UTC’s first eight points. Senior guard Katasha Brown tallied nine making 3-of-8 with a 3-pointer and was 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
“We didn’t play the way we know we are capable of playing,” Roberson said. In the opening period, Chattanooga shot a dismal 5-fo-26 (.192) from the floor, but saw success in the latter period shooting 41.2 percent (14-of-34) for a combined 31.7 percent for the game.
In 2000, the Lady Mocs lost 69-52 to Louisiana Tech in their first preseason WNIT appearance.
The NCAA implemented a couple of experimental rules for the preseason. One was the 10-second back court that didn’t seem to bother the Lady Mocs but, the extended 3-point line caused some headaches as Chattanooga hit on 3-of-21 (.143) for the game with all three in the second. From the charity stripe UTC went 12-for-16.
Alex Anderson had four points and six rebounds with two blocks, moving her up one spot to eighth on UTC’s all-time charts surpassing Shamya Sermons. Indiana State also won the battle on the glass, outrebounding the Lady Mocs 47-32 with 37 defensive boards.