Wes Moore

When Kayla Christopher shoots 3-pointers, she often finds herself shooting from behind the men's line.

"I just catch it and shoot and don't pay that much attention to where I am when I shoot," said the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman who is shooting 41.3 percent from 3-point range this season, third best in the Southern Conference.

Christopher is not alone among the Lady Mocs or the rest of women's college basketball since a separate men's arc was introduced for the 2008-09 season.

"I guarantee you 95 percent of our 3-point shots have been behind the men's line," Samford women's coach Mike Morris said.

In May 2007, the NCAA moved the men's line back a foot to 20 feet, 9 inches. The women's rules committee also considered the move but opted to keep the original line, 19 feet, 9 inches, where it has been for more than 20 years.

Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press
UTC's Kayla Christopher takes a three-point shot against Samford at McKenzie Arena on Saturday in their last regular season game of the year.

Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said he wanted to keep the line where it was.

"I was not a big advocate of moving the women's line back as well, because to me the 3-point shot is our dunk," he said. "That's when they throw T-shirts out and everybody gets excited. I don't want to see anything hurt that."

During the past two seasons, Moore has seen his players shoot from behind the men's line countless times. He reminds them often during shooting drills that they should take advantage of the fact that the women's line is a foot closer.

On the court at McKenzie Arena, the men's line is painted white and the women's line is blue. Ideally, Moore said, his players would step on the men's line when they shoot, which guarantees that they aren't on the women's line and thus don't run the risk of shooting long 2-point shots.

"Coach is always telling us to step on it, saying we're not in the NBA," said senior Jenaya Wade-Fray, whose 212 career 3s are third-most all-time at UTC.

The best 3-point shooter in the SoCon is Samford's Emily London, who was hitting 51.4 percent of her 3s before suffering a knee injury that caused her to miss five games. She struggled from long range since returning late in the regular season but maintained a 47 percent rate.

"Visually, you're used to being behind the deepest line, so maybe that's why a lot of my shots are from behind the men's line," she said. "We can shoot from that far back, too, so it doesn't really bother me."

Morris said he gave up on trying to get his players to shoot from closer to the women's line. He initially was against moving the line but has changed his stance.

"If it came up for a vote, I'd vote to move it back to the men's line," he said.

There's a possibility that could happen in the next few years.

Amy Backus, the Yale University senior associate athletic director who chairs the women's rules committee, said an informal survey "did demonstrate that a lot of people are shooting from behind the men's line."

Backus said senior woman administrators at Division I schools have been asked to gather data from one home game. From that game, the committee wants to know how many shots were attempted and made from behind the men's line and how many from behind the women's.

That information, which will be turned in by April 15, will give the committee and the coaches some hard data to use when they consider a possible change in the future.

"I've heard the argument that for real 3-point shooters it doesn't matter," Moore said. "Now that I've seen it for a couple of years, I could probably go either way on it."