The Lady Bucs fell to 4-17 overall, 4-8 in the Southern Conference at the hands of the Lady Mocs of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 85-54 Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Bucs remained close to the Lady Mocs, who sit in first place in conference, throughout much of the first half as Chris Forman made it a one-point game with two free throws at 22-21 and 6:41 to go in the first half.
But then the Lady Mocs (17-4, 11-1) went on a 16-4 run to end the half and give themselves some breathing room at 38-25.
The Lady Mocs continued their run at the beginning of the second half, stretching their lead to 20 off of a 12-5 run.
“We didn’t come out very strong,” freshman Racquel Ellis said. “The key was to come out the first five minutes strong. We didn’t do that.”
The Lady Bucs struggled with the loss of leading scorer, Erin Thurman due to illness. She is ranked seventh in the Southern Conference in scoring at 12.6 points per game.
“It hurt us without Thurman,” Head Coach Karen Kemp said. “It takes something away from our offense.”
Kemp also looked at the rebounding as a key to the Lady Mocs’ success Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Mocs outrebounded the Lady Bucs 37-28, especially on the offensive side 13-6, which led to second-chance points for the Lady Mocs.
“They crashed the boards extremely hard,” Kemp said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds. They’re a well-rounded club (and) quicker than we are.”
The Lady Bucs, however, did receive strong performances from Forman and Ellis, who scored 16 and 13 points respectively, accounting for more than 50 percent of the Lady Bucs’ offensive output.
The Lady Mocs were led by Miranda Warfield with 22 points as every Lady Moc that received playing time reached the scoring column, including four who went for double figures.
The Lady Bucs will return to action Monday night in Memorial Center against Georgia Southern with the tip-off set for 7 p.m.

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