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ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Milica Manojlovic drained a 3-pointer with 2:36 remaining to spark a late 12-0 run that propeled Furman past Chattanooga, 73-67, in women's Southern Conference Tournament semifinal round basketball action Friday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center.
The victory sends Furman (19-12), the tournament's No. 2 seed, into Sunday's Noon championship game against No. 1 seed Mercer, which beat Wofford, 69-51, in the other semfinal round matchup earlier today.
Furman's championship game appearance is its first since 2000, when current Paladin head coach Jackie Carson, now in her ninth season at the helm, starred as a player in leading Furman to the tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
The loss ended the season for Chattanooga (14-17).
"I'm just proud of this team, the grit that they've shown, the last two games in particular," said Carson. "We've had a lot of ups and downs, and I think a lot of people counted us out, but we never stopped believing. This team is special. I think a lot of people are seeing that. Hopefully, we can continue this on Sunday."
After Abbey Cornelius converted a layup with 3:42 remaining to give Chattanooga a 63-61 lead, — its first since the first minute of the game — Manojlovic answered with step-back 3-pointer from the left wing to put Furman on top, 64-63.
"Today's Milica's birthday, and she gave us a good birthday present with that 3," added Carson.
Tierra Hodges followed Manojlovic's trey with a three-point play at the 1:50 mark for a 67-63 lead. Manojlovic then tacked on a pair of free throws with just under a minute remaining, and senior Kaitlyn Duncan finished off the decisive 12-0 run with four free throws for a 73-61 advantage, sealing the game's outcome.
Manojlovic, a redshirt freshman from Tivat, Montenegro, finished the game with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 31 minutes of action.
Le'Jzae Davidson paced Furman with 18 points — all of which came in a first half that saw the Paladins race to a 29-17 first quarter lead. The junior All-SoCon guard connected on 7-of-11 shots, including 4-of-7 3-pointers, over the game's first 20 minutes as Furman shot 54.0 percent from the field to take a 43-37 lead into halftime.
The Paladins led 59-54 after three periods and went up 61-54 on a Celena Taborn basket at the 8:26 mark of the fourth quarter before going scoreless for almost six minutes. The dry spell allowed Chattanooga to battle back, as the Mocs used a 9-0 run to grab the 63-61 lead on Cornelius' layup. After a pair of misses by both teams, Manojlovic buried the go-ahead 3-pointer to put the Paladins up, 64-63.
"They had a ton of momentum (in the fourth quarter)," added Carson. "We just said 'They're throwing their punches. We've got to withstand and we've got to throw a punch back.' And that's kind of the motto we had the entire game."
Hodges, who posted 17 points and 13 rebounds in Furman's 67-52 quarterfinal round win over Samford on Thursday, registered her second double-double of the tournament, finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Taborn matched Manojlovic with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds, and Taylor Petty had 11 points to round out Furman's five-player, double figure attack.
Brooke Burns paced UTC with 18 points.
Furman proved dominant on the boards, posting a 44-32 advantage, and converted 19-of-20 free throws.
The Paladins, who pace the SoCon in field goal percentage defense, limited Chattanooga to just 33.9 percent shooting (21x62).
Hunter Reid, Sports Information
