Chattanooga rides nation's longest winning streak into NCAA tournament

3/22/2008 3:23 AM

By BETH RUCKER
Associated Press Writer

The Chattanooga Lady Mocs have played as a favorite for so long that they kind of like a bit of role reversal.

Even with the nation's longest winning streak at 24 games, the Lady Mocs are the underdog as a No. 12 seed facing fifth-seeded Kansas State on Sunday in the NCAA tournament.

``I think it's a good change. We feel like a lot of times during the conference schedule we had a big bull's-eye on our back,'' coach Wes Moore said. ``It is nice to maybe go in a little bit looser and knowing that we're playing a team from a BCS conference.''

Chattanooga (29-3) won the Southern Conference tournament March 10 to earn its third straight automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.

Relatively unknown on the national stage, the Lady Mocs are the SoCon's powerhouse team, having won their past 31 games against league opponents and seven of the past eight league titles.

Their only success at the NCAA tournament came in the first round in 2004 as a No. 10 seed in a 74-69 upset of seventh-seeded Rutgers. Chattanooga is 1-7 overall in the tournament.

The five seniors have suffered losses to Baylor in 2007 and Kentucky in 2006, both years as a No. 12 seed.

Moore is hoping that the experience playing at the NCAAs, rather than the results of the games, helps his team play with a swagger to catch Kansas State (21-9) off guard.

His players don't seem to be fazed by the challenge.

``Just going out there and people not knowing who we are and what we're capable of, it will be fun to see what we can do and see how we handle it,'' senior point guard Laura Hall said.

Chattanooga may have as good of a chance as ever to pull another first-round upset, even if it is against a team that finished the season ranked 16th in the nation.

The Wildcats will be without All-Big 12 guard Kimberly Dietz, their leading scorer with 14.9 points a game. Dietz, a senior, injured her left knee in the Big 12 tournament.

But Moore thinks Chattanooga's task isn't made any easier by the absence of Dietz.

``They still have a lot of good weapons,'' he said.

The Lady Mocs haven't lost since Dec. 1, a 67-63 decision to Alabama A&M. The also had a 76-56 early season loss to defending national champion Tennessee, another game the players think will help come Sunday.

Moore said he hasn't talked much with his players about their winning streak, opting to treat the season as a series of tournaments - one for the non-conference schedule, one with conference opponents and another come time for the conference tournament - rather than streaks.

But if history means anything, Chattanooga may have more going for it than just NCAA experience. The Lady Mocs were riding a streak of 26 straight in 2004 when they upset Rutgers.

``I guess the only thing that I've reminded them of is we had a similar win streak going into the Rutgers game in the NCAA tournament. So from a confidence standpoint, I hope they will realize that that does give us some momentum,'' Moore said.

``But once they toss it up, it's all new on Sunday.''