CHATTANOOGA, TN (GoMocs.com) – Chattanooga women’s basketball suffered a heartbreaking defeat on Thursday night, as the Mocs fell to Tennessee Tech 48-46 after a last-second shot fell for the Golden Eagles with just 1.7 second remaining on the clock.
The Mocs (1-1) put together a strong defensive effort on the evening, holding the Golden Eagles (2-0) to just 48 total points while forcing 29 turnovers out of TTU. However, rebounding issues and foul trouble plagued the Mocs up until the final buzzer, and UTC ultimately fell by the narrowest of margins to hand Chattanooga its first loss of the 2024-25 season.
“Obviously, tonight was a defensive battle,” head coach Deandra Schirmer said. “I think that both teams did a great job of scouting each other and coming out and trying to take away main options. I felt like, especially in the second half and third quarter, we were held to single digits, and then in the fourth quarter, we held them to single digits. It just started to become a slugfest.”
Indeed, the game proved to be a slugfest right from the opening tip, as the two teams exchanged blows over the opening 10 minutes of action from McKenzie Arena. Swapping leads over the course of the first quarter, it was a Izzy McPherson three-pointer as time ticked away that helped Chattanooga carry a narrow 17-16 lead into the end of the frame.
Heading into the second, the Mocs began to lean on graduate transfer Brooke Anya, using the Washington, D.C., native as a low post bully to get the Golden Eagles into early foul trouble. With Anya scoring nine of her eventual 12 points on the evening in the first half, the Mocs would build up their largest lead of the night at the 4:52 mark of the second, jumping up to a 26-17 advantage on Tennessee Tech.
However, a late push by TTU would quickly erase that sizeable Chattanooga lead, as the Mocs were suddenly heading into the halftime locker room holding just a 29-28 advantage.
The Mocs struggled to find their offense in the third quarter, which allowed the Golden Eagles to build up a 40-34 lead on Chattanooga after the halftime break. UTC would only score five points in the frame, a season-low on the year.
Desperately needing a spark, the Mocs turned to the underclassmen duo of Gianna Corbitt and Caia Elisaldez to carry the baton. Clutch shots from each quickly turned things into a 46-46 ball game with only 1:37 remaining on the clock.
While the Mocs were able to later find Sigrun Olafsdottir for a potential go-ahead three not long after, the shot wouldn’t fall, giving Tennessee Tech the ball and the opportunity to jump ahead.
With just 1.7 seconds remaining on the clock, TTU’s Reghan Grimes drove to the rim and punched in the game-sealing bucket. One last half court heave by Elisaldez wouldn’t fall, and the Golden Eagles ended up escaping the Scenic City with a 48-46 win.
Brooke Anya ended the night as UTC’s leading scorer, dropping a season-high 12 points off the bench. Elisaldez would finish with 10 points on the night with Corbitt right behind her at nine. Corbitt also added a career-high five steals to her stat line, the most in a game by a UTC freshman since Addie Grace Porter finished with five back on Nov. 19, 2021 against Murray State.
Both Karsen Murphy and Caia Elisaldez added four steals of their own to UTC’s grand total of 17 steals as a team. The trio of Corbitt, Olafsdottir and Anya would each finish tied for the team-high in rebounds at four apiece.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
On suffering such a close loss.
“Being a defensive coach, those are typically the games that I like to play in. If we’re not hitting shots, we’ve still got to have our defense, and I felt like the way that we responded in the fourth to come back, I was really proud of our group.”
TOP TAKEAWAYS
– Prior to tonight’s result, the last loss for Chattanooga at home to Tennessee Tech came on Dec. 17, 1997 (TTU won 61-51).
– UTC forced 29 turnovers out of the Golden Eagles, the most by a UTC opponent in a game since Western Carolina had 30 back on Jan. 28, 2023.
– 27 of UTC’s 46 points (59 percent) came off turnovers.
– A total of four Mocs finishing with mutliple steals: Gianna Corbitt (5), Karsen Murphy (4), Caia Elisaldez (4) and Sigrun Olafsdottir (2).
– Corbitt’s five steals mark the most in a game by a UTC freshman since Nov. 19, 2021 (then-freshman Addie Grace Porter finished with five against Murray State).
– Brooke Anya led the Mocs with 12 points off the bench, a new season-high for the grad transfer.
UP NEXT: NC CENTRAL
The Mocs are now set to hit the road for the very first time this season, with UTC traveling to Durham, North Carolina, to take on NC Central on Monday, November 11. Monday’s road tilt is slated for a 6 p.m. ET start. Fans can tune into Will Poindexter’s radio coverage on 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM, as the game will not be available to stream.
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