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No. 1 Chattanooga and No. 2 UNCG advance to SoCon Championship
Mocs outlast the Bears, Spartans edge out Terriers
No 1. Chattanooga 66, No. 4 Mercer 55
ASHEVILLE, N.C.--All-Conference guard Jada Guinn scored a career-high 33 point–including her team’s final 15 points–and No. 1 seed Chattanooga rallied to overcome a three-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat No. 4 seed Mercer, 66-55, in a semifinal game Friday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville N.C.
In avoiding a near upset, the Mocs (27-4) advance to the SoCon Tournament championship game on Sunday at noon against the winner of the No. 2 seed UNC Greensboro and No. 3 seed Wofford. Chattanooga, the regular season champion, has won four straight games and 15 of its last 16, with their only loss during that stretch coming against UNC Greensboro at home Feb. 24 by a 68-64 score.
Mercer (15-17), which lost seven of its first nine games this season, missed its first nine field goal attempts and shot a frigid 18 percent (3-of-17) from the floor in trailing 13-8 after one quarter. However, the upstart Bears refused to fold, scoring the final seven points of the half to secure a 24-23 lead at intermission. It marked only the fourth time this season that Chattanooga had trailed at halftime.
The Bears continued to hold a lead (44-41) as late as the 7:48 mark in the fourth period when Chattanooga’s Hannah Kohn drilled a three-point shot to tie the score at 44-44.
Guinn, a 5-8 graduate student from Oak Ridge, Tenn., triggered the Mocs’ offense by making 10 of 14 field goal attempts and 13 of 16 free throws. The conference’s No. 2 regular-season scorer (18.8) canned 17 of her 33 points in the final quarter, including 11 clutch free throws in the final four minutes of the contest. Guinn’s previous career high was 30 points against Western Carolina at Cullowhee, N.C. Jan. 27.
Raven Thompson added 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Chattanooga, while Stacie Jones (14), Summah Evans (13) and Macken Johnson (10) all scored in double figures for Mercer.
Chattanooga, currently ranked 13th nationally by CollegeInsider among NCAA Division I Mid Majors, will be seeking its 20th conference tournament title in school history on Sunday.
RECORDS: No. 1 Chattanooga 27-4, No. 4 Mercer 15-17
STATS TO KNOW
No. 2 UNCG 72, No. 3 Wofford 62
The backcourt heroics of Jayde Gamble and Nia Howard, who combined for 46 points, keyed No. 2 seed UNC Greensboro’s 72-62 semifinal victory over SoCon Player of the Year Rachael Rose and No. 3 Wofford and at the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament Friday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
Rose set a career high with 38 points but the Spartans survived to advance to Sunday’s Southern Conference Championship Game against No. 1 seed Chattanooga. Tipoff for Sunday’s game is noon EST. Converting 15 of 31 field goal attempts, Rose’s scoring total fell only two points shy of Wofford’s all-time single season record. Chloe Wanink tallied 40 points against Western Carolina in a regular season game on Jan. 10, 2019.
Gamble, the No. 4 scorer (14.0 ppg) in the Southern Conference, connected on 11 of 17 field goal attempts for a career-high 28 points, corralled eight rebounds and doled out three assists. Howard was near perfect with 18 points on 6-of-8 from the field, 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 3-for-4 from the foul line.
With six lead changes and three ties in the first half, UNC Greensboro clung to a 32-30 halftime lead thanks to Gamble’s 14 points on five of nine field-goal shooting and the Spartans’ 25-18 rebounding edge.
UNC Greensboro’s largest lead of the game was 15 points twice, the last time coming at the 4:25 mark when Gamble’s jumper gave the Spartans a 62-47 cushion. The Terriers went on a 13-2 run to close the margin to 64-60 on a Rose layup with 1:22 left but Wofford could only manage two points the rest of the way.
Rose, one of five finalists for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year and a two-time conference Player of the Year, was limited to 12 points in Thursday’s quarterfinal win against Samford, but she responded by making 14 of 28 field goal attempts and 6-of-6 free throws en route to her 38 points against Wofford. She fell only seven points shy of the SoCon Tournament record of 45 points, scored by Western Carolina’s Jennifer Gardner against Georgia Southern in 2005.
The 5-7 junior guard from Scranton, PA led the Southern Conference in scoring (22.1), rebounding (8.7), assists (5.8) and free throw percentage (.875) during the regular season.
RECORDS: No. 2 UNC Greensboro 21-10, No. 3 Wofford 17-13
STATS TO KNOW
ASHEVILLE, N.C.--All-Conference guard Jada Guinn scored a career-high 33 point–including her team’s final 15 points–and No. 1 seed Chattanooga rallied to overcome a three-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat No. 4 seed Mercer, 66-55, in a semifinal game Friday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville N.C.
In avoiding a near upset, the Mocs (27-4) advance to the SoCon Tournament championship game on Sunday at noon against the winner of the No. 2 seed UNC Greensboro and No. 3 seed Wofford. Chattanooga, the regular season champion, has won four straight games and 15 of its last 16, with their only loss during that stretch coming against UNC Greensboro at home Feb. 24 by a 68-64 score.
Mercer (15-17), which lost seven of its first nine games this season, missed its first nine field goal attempts and shot a frigid 18 percent (3-of-17) from the floor in trailing 13-8 after one quarter. However, the upstart Bears refused to fold, scoring the final seven points of the half to secure a 24-23 lead at intermission. It marked only the fourth time this season that Chattanooga had trailed at halftime.
The Bears continued to hold a lead (44-41) as late as the 7:48 mark in the fourth period when Chattanooga’s Hannah Kohn drilled a three-point shot to tie the score at 44-44.
Guinn, a 5-8 graduate student from Oak Ridge, Tenn., triggered the Mocs’ offense by making 10 of 14 field goal attempts and 13 of 16 free throws. The conference’s No. 2 regular-season scorer (18.8) canned 17 of her 33 points in the final quarter, including 11 clutch free throws in the final four minutes of the contest. Guinn’s previous career high was 30 points against Western Carolina at Cullowhee, N.C. Jan. 27.
Raven Thompson added 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Chattanooga, while Stacie Jones (14), Summah Evans (13) and Macken Johnson (10) all scored in double figures for Mercer.
Chattanooga, currently ranked 13th nationally by CollegeInsider among NCAA Division I Mid Majors, will be seeking its 20th conference tournament title in school history on Sunday.
RECORDS: No. 1 Chattanooga 27-4, No. 4 Mercer 15-17
STATS TO KNOW
- Today’s loss snapped Mercer’s four-game winning streak.
- Chattanooga shot 19 more free throws than Mercer. The Mocs made 18 of 26 from the foul stripe while the Bears were only 4 of 7.
- Guinn’s 13 free throws made were only two shy of the SoCon Tournament record of 15, set by UNC Greensboro’s Melinda Goodson against Davidson in 1999.
- Addie Porter and Karsen Murphy both chipped in with seven rebounds for the winners.
No. 2 UNCG 72, No. 3 Wofford 62
The backcourt heroics of Jayde Gamble and Nia Howard, who combined for 46 points, keyed No. 2 seed UNC Greensboro’s 72-62 semifinal victory over SoCon Player of the Year Rachael Rose and No. 3 Wofford and at the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament Friday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
Rose set a career high with 38 points but the Spartans survived to advance to Sunday’s Southern Conference Championship Game against No. 1 seed Chattanooga. Tipoff for Sunday’s game is noon EST. Converting 15 of 31 field goal attempts, Rose’s scoring total fell only two points shy of Wofford’s all-time single season record. Chloe Wanink tallied 40 points against Western Carolina in a regular season game on Jan. 10, 2019.
Gamble, the No. 4 scorer (14.0 ppg) in the Southern Conference, connected on 11 of 17 field goal attempts for a career-high 28 points, corralled eight rebounds and doled out three assists. Howard was near perfect with 18 points on 6-of-8 from the field, 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 3-for-4 from the foul line.
With six lead changes and three ties in the first half, UNC Greensboro clung to a 32-30 halftime lead thanks to Gamble’s 14 points on five of nine field-goal shooting and the Spartans’ 25-18 rebounding edge.
UNC Greensboro’s largest lead of the game was 15 points twice, the last time coming at the 4:25 mark when Gamble’s jumper gave the Spartans a 62-47 cushion. The Terriers went on a 13-2 run to close the margin to 64-60 on a Rose layup with 1:22 left but Wofford could only manage two points the rest of the way.
Rose, one of five finalists for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year and a two-time conference Player of the Year, was limited to 12 points in Thursday’s quarterfinal win against Samford, but she responded by making 14 of 28 field goal attempts and 6-of-6 free throws en route to her 38 points against Wofford. She fell only seven points shy of the SoCon Tournament record of 45 points, scored by Western Carolina’s Jennifer Gardner against Georgia Southern in 2005.
The 5-7 junior guard from Scranton, PA led the Southern Conference in scoring (22.1), rebounding (8.7), assists (5.8) and free throw percentage (.875) during the regular season.
RECORDS: No. 2 UNC Greensboro 21-10, No. 3 Wofford 17-13
STATS TO KNOW
- UNCG has won only one previous conference tournament championship in 1998.
- Chattanooga, the regular season champion, has won four straight games and 15 of its last 16, but their only loss during that stretch came against UNC Greensboro at home Feb. 24 by a 68-64 score.
- Rose has now scored at least 20 points in 12 of her last 13 games, and has scored in double digits in 49 straight games.
- Rose finishes this season with 670 points, topping the program record for single-season scoring. The mark was previously set by Jenny Nett (613) in the 2001-02 campaign.
- UNCG held a 46-32 rebounding edge for the game, including a 14-7 advantage on the offensive glass.