Asheville, N.C. – Western Carolina women's basketball fell to top-seeded Chattanooga in Thursday's quarterfinal at the 2024 Ingles SoCon Basketball Championship 64-43 at the Harrah's Cherokee Center - Asheville.

Tyja Beans closed out her debut season with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting with six rebounds. Zanoria Cruz finished her WCU career with 10 points and a pair of steals. Lonasia Brewer pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for WCU. 

Jada Guinn led Chattanooga with 16 points and tied for the team lead with eight rebounds. She connected on 7-of-12 field goals and added four assists and a pair of steals. Sigrun Olafsdottir poured in 15 points on 6-of-11 field goals, including three from beyond the arc, while Hannah Kohn rounded out the double-figure scorers with 15 points on five made 3-pointers.

The two teams traded bursts in the opening five minutes, with three ties, before back-to-back threes from Chattanooga allowed the Mocs to take a 13-7 lead. Chelsea Wooten cut into the deficit with a pair of free throws, but a 7-3 UTC run over the final three minutes allowed the Mocs to take a 20-12 lead after one quarter. 

The Mocs began the second quarter with four quick points, forcing an early WCU timeout as UTC stretched the advantage to a half-high 12, 24-12. The Catamounts used a 9-4 run to whittle the deficit to seven, 28-21, with 3:30 left in the half. In that stretch, Cruz had five points, including a 3-pointer. Chattanooga scored six of the next nine points to stretch it back to 10, 34-24, before four straight from Western Carolina made it 34-28 at intermission. 

Scoring was limited after the break. Chattanooga (26-4) began the third with a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to 12, 40-28 with 4:16 to play in the quarter. Mya Love converted a three-point play to cut into the deficit before the Mocs added a late layup to the low-scoring third quarter with a 42-31 UTC lead. 

Cruz began the fourth with a quick layup, but a 10-4 Mocs run stretched the lead to its largest of the afternoon, 52-37, with 5:43 to play. UTC closed on a 12-5 run to claim the 64-43 quarterfinal win from Asheville. 

Western Carolina (6-24) finished with a 32% percentage from the floor (16-of-50) compared to 39.7% (23-of-58) for Chattanooga. The Mocs used the deep ball to their advantage, making 10 triples, while WCU was successful with a pair of threes. Both teams struggled from the free throw line, as WCU made 9-of-14 while UTC made 8-of-16. 

The Mocs held a three-rebound advantage at 39-36. Chattanooga had a 24-20 edge in points in the paint and an 18-16 advantage in bench scoring. The Catamounts had a 10-5 edge in second-chance scoring, while Chattanooga outscored in fastbreak points at 9-2. 

Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's basketball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, Catamountwbb).