Asheville, N.C. – A 19-point third-quarter surge between Jada Burton, Chelsea Wooten, and AC Carter gave Western Carolina women's basketball life in the opening game of the 2025 Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championship on Thursday afternoon. However, the eighth-seeded Catamounts were unable to complete the fourth-quarter comeback as their upset attempt against top-seeded UNC Greensboro fell short, 50-43, at the Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville.
 
WCU rallied from down as many as a dozen to the league's top defensive unit, managing to take a couple of 2-point leads, but could never distance themselves to continue to apply pressure to the regular-season champion Spartans.
 
"We played three down to the wire games against UNCG (this season), and I want to congratulate Coach (Trina) Patterson and her team for advancing to the semifinals," said WCU head coach Jonathan Tsipis during the postgame press conference. "That being said, I think this year for us at Western Carolina will be a year that we look back and we've built this unbelievable platform to move the program forward. I'm just really proud of our group." 
 
Burton led the Catamounts in scoring with 11 points including back-to-back high-arching 3-pointers in the third quarter. AC Carter was the team's leading rebounder with 11 boards, seven of which came in the first half. The SoCon's regular-season scoring leader, Carter tied Wooten for the second-most points on the team with six. 
 
Khalis Cain led UNCG with a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end as the Spartans scored 13 second-chance points in the tournament opener. Jaila Lee led the team with 14 points.
 
Raising the curtain on the three days of competition at 11 a.m. on Thursday, the first quarter opened sleepily as both teams looked to find their shot early. The Catamounts and Spartans combined for 13 points at the first media timeout with 4:04 to go in the frame. Grace Pack and Chelsea Wooten hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close out the quarter for the Catamounts, as the Spartans took a 13-12 lead into the second.  
 
Cain began the scoring for the Spartans in the second quarter with an early layup to make it a 15-12 game, but neither team would score consistently. UNCG methodically paced their possessions, going on an 8-0 spurt before AC Carter and Reagan Trumm snapped the Catamount scoring drought to cut into the deficit. The Spartans answered with another 7-0 run before Nicole Azar hit a long-range jumper to cut into the deficit, making it single digits at intermission, though the Catamounts trailed 28-19. 
 
Out of the halftime locker room, Jaila Lee went one of two at the free throw line for the Spartans, briefly putting UNCG back up by double-digits. From then on, the Catamounts pushed back offensively, outpacing UNCG 19-13 throughout the third quarter. Burton sank consecutive three balls to make it a four-point game before Wooten hit a third consecutive trey for WCU to cut the deficit to three.
 
UNCG anchored down late in the quarter, putting up three points off a Jaila Lee jumper and a Khalis Cain free throw, but Carter hit a final 3-pointer before the end of the frame to make it a 41-38 game going into the fourth.  
 
Burton put up a layup to put the Catamounts into the 40s early in the final quarter before Taj Hunter knocked down a free throw to tie the game at 41 all. Both teams then went through scoring droughts of over two minutes in length. Cain broke the draw for the Spartans with a physical layup before Burton matched with two free throws to again tie the game. However, the Catamounts wouldn't manage another basket in the final five minutes as the Spartans claimed the 50-43 victory to advance into Friday's semifinal round.
 
Catamount Notables: 

• Western Carolina eight made 3-pointers were the most for the Catamounts against a Southern Conference opponent since matching that total against Chattanooga in 2022; 
• Similarly, the eight treys allowed by UNCG were the second-most by a Spartan opponent this season, matching the total scored by North Carolina and trailing only the 10 put up by Carolina U. The Spartans had not allowed more than seven 3-pointers to a SoCon team before the first-round matchup with the Catamounts; 
• Jada Burton scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and the seventh against a SoCon opponent ... Her 11 points scored were her most since putting up 22 against Wofford at home;
• Burton ends the season as the Catamount single-season assists leader, locking in her record-setting total of 158 during the 2024-25 season; 
• AC Carter finished the day with 11 rebounds, her seventh game with double-digit boards of the season … the SoCon's top scorer was limited to just six points to match her season-low in offensive production (6 at Furman; 6 vs. UNCG);
• The four Catamount seniors exhausting their eligibility (AC Carter, Jada Burton, Chelsea Wooten, and Zanoria Cruz) combined for 30 points, 21 rebounds, and six assists. They also contributed four steals to the Catamounts' total;
• The seven-point loss for the Catamounts was the closest SoCon tournament defeat for the Catamounts since a 64-57 loss to the Davidson Wildcats in the conference tournament semifinals in 2014.