Keep It Going
The Chattanooga Lady Mocs have not seen the losing side of a box score since November 25. Wes Moore’s club is in the midst of one of the longest winning streaks in the nation after winning its 18th straight on Monday against UNC Greensboro in Chattanooga. The 18 straight wins places them second-best in the nation in regards to consecutive wins behind only No. 1 North Carolina (22). The Lady Mocs’ victory over Davidson on Monday earned Chattanooga at least a share of its seventh consecutive regular-season league title. If Chattanooga emerges victorious at home on Thursday against Western Carolina, the Lady Mocs will garner their fourth straight outright league regular-season crown.
To Say Gaudy Would Not Suffice
The arrival of Wes Moore to Chattanooga started a string of success for the Lady Mocs previously unequaled prior to Moore’s hiring. In fact, since Moore’s second year with the program in 1999-2000, Chattanooga has won seven regular season league titles, five SoCon Tournament titles, advanced to the NCAA Tournament four times and the WNIT Postseason Tournament twice. The Lady Mocs have posted an overall record of 172-36 over these particular years and are 114-11 up to this point in league play.
Crime Stopper
UNC Greensboro’s Kristen Boone garnered a UNC Greensboro Division I record nine steals in the Spartans victory over Furman last Saturday. As significant as that was, the fact that Boone entered Monday’s game against Georgia Southern with at least one steal in every game that she had partook in throughout her career was even more impressive. All good things must come to an end, as Boone was not able to pluck a steal in the Spartans’ win over the Lady Eagles on Monday, squashing her streak of 45 straight games to commence her career with at least one steal on the stat sheet. Nevertheless, Boone is still tops in the league in the department at 4.6 per game, which also places her second in the nation.
It Will Be Televised
The final live SoCon women’s basketball game of the year before the SoCon basketball tournament will be televised Saturday, Feb. 11 in Greenville where the Lady Paladins will face off against Upstate rival Wofford. The game will be carried by Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast and will commence at 3:30 p.m.
Still One Away
Furman head coach Sam Dixon has been staring at win No. 60 as the man in charge of the Lady Paladin program for almost four weeks, as the Lady Paladins have not chalked up a win since January 9. Furman right now is in the midst of a nine-game league slide, the longest for the Lady Paladin program since a period that saw the Paladins drop 11 consecutive league games between Jan. 29, 1987 and Jan. 23 1988. Nevertheless, that year the Lady Paladins never surrendered more than five games in a row. Overall, the nine-game losing streak is the longest for the Lady Paladins since Furman dropped nine straight decisions to end the 1980-81 season. The Lady Paladins have come close to snapping the skid, as they have fallen by six or fewer points in five out of the nine contests, losing by a combined six points in three of the losses to UNC Greensboro, College of Charleston and Wofford.
It Bears Repeating
Chattanooga’s Katasha Brown became the third player in the league to win Player of the Week accolades more than once when she was awarded the honor this week. The Preseason SoCon Player of the Year joins Elon’s Kitara McMoore and teammate Alex Anderson as the only players to earn the honor more than once thus far in the 2005-06 season. Anderson picked up the nod twice early in the campaign, winning the honor in week two and four. Elon’s McMoore has acquired the award a league-high three times this season (Weeks 1, 5 and 7). In total, the trio have commandeered the award in seven out of the possible 10 weeks.
Appalachian State (10-12, 6-7 SoCon)
Appalachian State was 1-2 on the hardwood last week, etching its name in the win column against Furman ... The victory over Furman squashed a five-game skid against the Lady Paladins ... On the opposite end of the spectrum, Appalachian’s 87-66 loss to the Lady Mocs in Chattanooga extended the Mountaineers’ losing streak against UTC to 16 straight outings ... The loss to Chattanooga was the fourth straight month-opening loss for the Mountaineers, who also fell in their month openers in November, December and January ... In December and January, the Mountaineers succumbed in their first two games on the month ... Saturday’s home tilt against UNC Greensboro will be Senior Day at Holmes, as all four seniors will be honored ... Appalachian, with one more victory, will equal last year’s win total and with two more wins would mark the best season in the Adrienne Shuler era.
College of Charleston (10-10, 7-5 SoCon)
College of Charleston acquired a win over Wofford in its only game last week, leaving the Cougars 3-1 in their last four games ... Erica Smith netted a career-high 14 points in the victory, while Erica Irick posted 15 points ... Jade Hughes, a Spartanburg native playing for the first time in her hometown as a Cougar, dished out a game-high five assists in the win.
Chattanooga (19-3, 13-0 SoCon)
Chattanooga was once again perfect last week, tallying victories over Appalachian State and Davidson ... The Lady Mocs have now emerged victorious in 18 straight games, which is the second longest winning streak in the nation presently ... The Lady Mocs trail only No. 1 North Carolina in terms of consecutive wins ... The Lady Mocs’ win over Davidson on Monday secured at least a share of the SoCon regular-season crown for the seventh consecutive season ... The Lady Mocs can win the title outright with a win over Western Carolina on Thursday ... The outright title would be the fourth straight for the Lady Mocs’ program ... In total, over the last seven years the Lady Mocs have commandeered seven regular season league titles, five SoCon tournament crowns, advanced to the NCAA Tournament four times and the WNIT twice ... Since coach Wes Moore’s second year at the helm of the program in 1999-2000, Chattanooga has posted an overall record of 172-36 and are 114-11 in league action ... In the Lady Mocs’ 2005-06 campaign, Chattanooga is 15-0 when posting 70 points or more on the scoreboard ... Chattanooga has tallied 70 points or more in eight games, 80-plus in six games and has registered 100 points in one contest.
Davidson (12-10, 8-5 SoCon)
Davidson was 1-1 last week, earning a league win over Western Carolina before falling to Chattanooga ... The Wildcats presently share second place in the SoCon with UNC Greensboro ... Since December 19, the Wildcats are 10-4 after starting the year 2-6 ... In the victory over Western, Davidson placed five players in double-figures for the the third time this season ... Brynn Kelly had 14 points and 10 defensive boards in the win.
Elon (10-11, 5-7 SoCon)
Elon played in just one contest last week, coming away with a league win over Georgia Southern at home ... The win moved the Phoenix to just one game under .500 overall, besting last year’s overall win total by six games already ... Myra Donkin acquired her first start of her career in the game and finished with a career-high 14 points ... Kitara McMoore, still the league leader in points per game (14.5) and rebounds per game (9.4), narrowly missed extending her SoCon-high in double-doubles with 14 points and nine rebounds in the 58-48 win over Georgia Southern.
Furman (7-15, 3-9 SoCon)
Furman was 0-2 last week, losing contests to Tarheel state league rivals Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro ... The two losses extend the Lady Paladins’ season-high losing streak to nine consecutive games ... Furman has narrowly missed squashing the skid, losing five of its last nine by six or fewer points and one game in overtime ... The Lady Paladins’ losses to UNC Greensboro, College of Charleston and Wofford were by a combined six points ... Jessica Lange acquired a career-high 20 points in the loss to UNC Greensboro.
Georgia Southern (9-13, 6-7 SoCon)
One week after going a perfect 2-0, Georgia Southern ended last week 0-2, with losses to Elon and UNC Greensboro ... It was a tale of two halves for the Lady Eagles in their contests last week, as they shot 45.6 from the field in the first half of both of their games last week compared to the 25.9 percent that they garnered in the second half of both losses ... Ashley Melson was the only Eagle to reach double-figures in both games last week, averaging a team-best 12.5 ppg for the week ... Melson was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc in the two contests ... Leslie Spoon set a new career-high in rebounds with seven in the loss to UNC Greensboro.
UNC Greensboro (12-10, 8-5 SoCon)
UNC Greensboro won both of its games last weekend to move into a second place tie with Davidson in the SoCon standings ... The Spartans are 7-2 over their last nine games ... Kristen Boone continued her thieving ways in the win over Furman, tallying a UNCG NCAA Division I game-high with nine steals ... Boone followed that up with nary a steal in the victory over Georgia Southern, marking the first time in her two-year career that she has not accumulated at least one steal in a contest ... Boone had at least one steal in 45 straight games ... The victory over Georgia Southern earned UNCG its first victory on a Monday after succumbing to its opponent in the first five games they participated in on Monday ... UNC Greensboro shot 63.5 percent from the field in the second half of its game with Furman, its best shooting percentage in a half this season.
Western Carolina (5-17, 5-8 SoCon)
Western was 1-1 for the second week in a row last week, solidifying its fifth win of the season with a 82-65 victory over rival Appalachian State on Monday night ... The victory gave the Cats their first series sweep of Appalachian since 2003 ...The Catamounts’ loss to Davidson last Saturday gave the Wildcats their first seasonal-series sweep of WCU since the 1998-99 campaign ... The win over ASU put five players into double-figures for the first time Western’s game against ASU on February 11, 2004.
Wofford (6-15, 2-10 SoCon)
Wofford participated in only one contest last week, falling 59-45 to College of Charleston in Spartanburg ... Nakia Mister narrowly missed a double-double with her 10 points and nine rebounds chalked up in the loss to the Cougars ... Mister also tallied two steals in the game, moving to within 20 of the Wofford Division I era (1995-present) record of 199 set by Ricaye Harris (2001-05) ... Mister presently has 39 steals on the year.