SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's basketball team fell 54-47 to Chattanooga on Thursday evening at Richardson Indoor Stadium. Despite trailing by four at the half, the Mocs outscored Wofford 28-17 in the second half en route to the victory. The loss moves Wofford to 9-11 on the season and 2-3 in the Southern Conference.
 
The defensive minded Mocs opened up the first quarter with a strong showing on the offensive side of the ball as Chattanooga made five of its first 11 shots of the game to open up an 11-5 lead at the first timeout. Wofford came out of the break on fire, going on an 8-2 run to end the period with a 13-11 lead. After the Terriers made just two of seven shots to open the game, Wofford then made three of the next seven shots including two from distance. Da'Ja Green paced the Terriers after one period of play with five points and two rebounds while Green, Cairo Booker and Anna Claire Atha knocked down one triple in the opening quarter.
 
Chattanooga used two early buckets to tie the game up at 15, but the Emily Ryan answered with two straight three-pointers to put Wofford back on top. The squads traded buckets over the next few minutes with both teams finding some offensive rhythm. Despite trailing by as many as seven in the quarter, the Mocs cut the Wofford lead to 30-26 at the half. In the first two quarters the Terriers were just 11-29 (37%) but six of the made jumpers came from beyond the arc. Three of those came from Emily Ryan who had nine points in the second quarter. Ryan led Wofford at the half while Booker and Green combined for 14 points, five assists and three boards in the first 20 minutes.
 
Wofford stayed red hot out of the halftime break knocking down four of seven from the field, extending the lead to 12 and forcing the Mocs to call a timeout to stop the bleeding. Prior to the media timeout, the Mocs put together a 5-3 run cutting the Wofford lead to 10 with 5:08 left in the quarter. After two-plus minutes of scoreless action, Chattanooga reeled off a 9-0 run to cut the Wofford lead to two at the end of three quarters.
 
The defensive pressure of the Mocs finally got the Terriers in the fourth quarter who shot just 3-14 (21%) in the final period. The Terriers scored six points in the opening five minutes of the period but were held scoreless by the Mocs for the remaining five minutes of play. The Mocs shot 5-11 (45%) in the quarter and knocked down four key free throws in crunch time.
 
Despite the loss, Wofford outrebounded the Mocs 38-34 and shot 19-59 (32%) from the floor. The Terriers knocked down seven triples while converting the only two free throws that the team attempted. Emily Ryan led the Terriers with 12 points on 4-12 shooting while Cairo Booker added nine points, five assists and six rebounds.
 
The Terriers will return to the court on Saturday, January 20 when Wofford hosts ETSU at 2 PM in the first game of a women's and men's double header.