The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team saw its season come to a close Monday in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, falling 85-72 at Troy.
It was UTC’s second loss to Troy this season, having dropped a 76-66 decision on Nov. 14 in Chattanooga.
The Mocs’ first season under head coach Deandra Schirmer ended with a 17-15 record, which featured a runner-up finish in the Southern Conference regular-season and conference tournament, but ended when the team fell victim to a 17-4 third-quarter run by Troy that put the Trojans up 63-51. The Mocs got to within seven points twice in the final quarter, but never got any closer.
Sophomore Caia Elisaldez led the Mocs with 21 points and seven assists, but she also had seven of the team’s 15 turnovers against Troy’s pressure. Freshman Gianna Corbitt added 20 points and seven rebounds, wrapping up a strong finish to her initial season of college which saw the 6-foot-1 forward average 21.7 points and 8.7 rebounds in her final three games.
Sigrun Olafsdottir, who tied former UTC men’s basketball players David Jean-Baptiste and A.J. Caldwell for most games played in school history with 152, had 10 points, five rebounds and four assists before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. She’s one of four seniors graduating along with forwards Brooke Anya, Karsen Murphy and Takia Davis.
The Mocs had a 37-35 lead at the half, but the Trojans (21-13) shot 63% in the second half and scored 50 points.
“I feel like the only way we’ve been able to beat teams is with our defense,” said Schirmer, who became the first UTC coach to win a postseason game in her first season this past Saturday. “If it’s a shootout where it’s who can score the most amount of points, we’re not going to win that game and we knew that.
“We knew going into the game that they want to play quickly, they want to shoot it at their pace, they want to shoot it quickly in the first 12 seconds of the shot clock and we’ve got to have good defense because we didn’t want to get into their style of play. Unfortunately we kind of got into that in the third quarter and giving up 28 points in a quarter is unacceptable.
“Credit to (Troy). I thought they played really well.”
The Mocs return seniors Kalifa Ford and Taylor Searcey — players Schirmer brought with her from Valdosta State — next season, as well as promising freshman guard Izzy McPherson. All three were lost to season-ending injuries, with Ford and Searcey missing the entire season and McPherson gone after six games. The team signed forward Evie Bruce, guard/forward London Weaver and guard Kami Wilson from the high school ranks in November.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.