Lady Mocs' 20-game winning streak longest in Division I

2/17/2006 3:29 PM

By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer

The Chattanooga Lady Mocs are streaking again.

A team that has reeled off winning streaks of 27, 11 and 14 games over the previous two seasons goes into Saturday's game at the College of Charleston with a 20-game run that is Division I's longest for women or men.

Talk about success.

``Coach (Wes) Moore tells us all the time about what this program has done in the past and that we need to live up to what they've been doing and all the hard work at getting there,'' said sophomore Alex Anderson, daughter of former NBA player Willie Anderson.

``This is a new year, and anything can happen.''

Chattanooga (21-3) clinched a seventh consecutive Southern Conference title - 12th overall - on Feb. 9 by beating Furman for a 19th straight victory. That night, then-No. 1 North Carolina snapped a 22-game streak with a loss to Maryland. The Lady Mocs pushed it to 20 with a victory over Furman on Monday.

No. 7 George Washington holds the men's longest winning streak at 13 games going into Saturday night's game at Richmond.

Moore, who's 182-53 in his eighth season at Chattanooga, said winning is a nice reward.

``You just have to constantly try to keep their feet on the ground and make sure. They say a loss is good for you, but you hope that you can still give them things that they need to work on and get better at without having to lose a game,'' Moore said.

This is the second-longest streak in school history behind the 27-game run in 2003-04, which ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament after an opening victory over Rutgers. Moore has three senior starters from that team - guard Katasha Brown, forward Tiffani Roberson and guard Nicole Mattison.

They are 101-16 overall, 70-3 in the conference. Five of the losses were to top 10 teams, including three to Tennessee.

Just don't ask the seniors about streaks or superstitions.

``Every time this happens, you get these questions,'' Brown said Friday. ``We don't really talk about the streak. I couldn't tell you what it is right now. We just take one game at a time.''

The Lady Mocs' last loss was 82-67 on Nov. 25 to Tennessee Tech.

On offense, they spread the wealth. Four average double figures led by Brown with 13.7 points a game, and five different Lady Mocs have led them in scoring this season. Rebounding is a weakness they are working on, and they grabbed a season-high 20 offensive boards against Furman in their 20th straight victory.

They rank in the top 20 nationally for scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage (46.3) and 3-point percentage. They are second in Division I with an average eight 3-pointers a game.

The other losses came to Tennessee and Indiana State. Playing the Lady Vols has become a habit for Moore, who used to work coach Pat Summitt's summer camps when he coached at Division III Maryville College.

``Tennessee's going to expose every weakness you have. When you walk out of there at the end of the day, you're going to know what you better shore up, if you're going to have a successful season,'' Moore said.

Ultimately, success is measured by NCAA tournament berths, and Chattanooga still must win the league tournament to assure the school's seventh such slot despite an RPI of 31 that is higher than No. 17 Minnesota (38), No. 22 Vanderbilt (37) or No. 23 Temple (53).

The Lady Mocs missed the tournament last season following a league tournament loss to East Tennessee State.

``It's in the back of everyone's minds not to be complacent, not slip up and get beat,'' Brown said.

It's certainly worked well so far.