The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team hadn’t played in a week before taking the court Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena, with the visit from East Tennessee State University representing not only a chance to close out a 3-0 homestand but hold steady as one of top teams in the Southern Conference standings.
Point guard Caia Elisaldez helped make sure the Mocs didn’t get all dressed up for nothing.
The 5-foot-5 sophomore scored a team-high 17 points, capped by her go-ahead basket on a driving layup with 24.8 seconds to play after the Mocs’ 14-point third-quarter lead had evaporated and the Buccaneers had pulled even with 32 seconds to go. The Mocs then withstood a missed 3-pointer and a missed layup in ETSU’s final two possessions — plus three missed free throws by UTC players — to hold on for the 48-46 win.
The Mocs improved to 9-9 overall — getting back to .500 for the first time since they were 4-4 at the end November — and 4-1 in the Southern Conference while dropping their in-state league rivals to 11-9, 2-3. UTC has won 11 of the past 12 series meetings, including six in a row.
“What was going through my head was, ‘We’re not losing,'” Elisaldez said of her thoughts on the final basket. “We didn’t wake up this morning, we didn’t prep all week — we didn’t have a whole five days of practice, four days, whatever we had — for us to come out here on our home court and lose.
“I knew the whole game I was going to do whatever it took for our team to win. If that meant I needed to score, then today was the day for that. If that meant I needed to find someone else, I found a way to do that in the second half.”
Indeed, all four of Elisaldez’s assists came in the final 20 minutes, but on this play, the best option was herself.
“In that moment, it was like, I just need to read,” she explained, “and once I saw that no one else was on that side, I said I was going and we’re winning.”
The team’s strong defensive performance in the second half was also huge as the Mocs followed up back-to-back home wins against Samford (69-63 on Jan. 16) and Mercer (60-37 on Jan. 18) by grinding out a closer, low-scoring affair at McMenzie. UTC led 15-13 after the first quarter, but ETSU went into halftime up 22-21 after making the final basket of the second quarter before the Mocs missed a 3.
The Mocs built their third-quarter advantage by limiting the Bucs to one made field goal on 11 attempts in the period and four points total. That gave the Mocs a 39-26 advantage, highlighted by a buzzer-beating 3-point heave by Sigrun Olafsdottir from halfcourt.
“It’s such a teaching point to our players as far as perseverance goes,” first-year UTC head coach Deandra Schirmer said. “We’ve been trying to preach to them that if you do things the right way, things are going to work out for you.
“I feel like it was an ugly game down the stretch, we couldn’t put the ball in the basket, we’re missing free throws, we’re making uncharacteristic plays and turnovers, but I feel when you do things the right way, when you’re communicating, when you’re playing together, when you’re playing unselfishly and when you’re playing good defense, I think that things are going to naturally flow your way.”
Gianna Corbitt added 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Mocs, while Olafsdottir had 11 points and five rebounds. Ava Card had six points — she was 3-for-4 on free throws as part of UTC’s 5-for-9 showing at the foul line — and Brooke Anya had seven rebounds before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
ETSU’s Braylyn Milton scored a game-high 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting (including 4-for-7 from 3-point range) while also grabbing eight rebounds. The only other double-digit scorer for the Bucs was Courtney Moore with 11 points, but Meghan Downing’s 10 rebounds were a game high.
UTC, the two-time reigning SoCon tournament champion, returns to competition Thursday with a road game against league-leading Wofford (13-5, 5-0). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.