ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team picked the worst possible time to have perhaps its worst defensive performance of the season.
With their program’s potential 21st Southern Conference tournament title on the line, the top-seeded Mocs’ struggles on that end of the court helped sixth-seeded Samford shoot 53% from the field and make 10 of 17 3-point attempts on its way to a 72-67 victory in Sunday’s championship matchup at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
The Mocs had won their first 20 appearances in the SoCon championship game but have now lost two straight, and while last season’s run to the tournament final was a bit of a surprise due to so many new players on the roster, coach Deandra Schirmer’s second UTC team was picked in October as the preseason favorite to win the league title.
And the Mocs looked like favorites when they started SoCon play 8-0 as part of a 12-game winning streak overall before dropping five of eight games since. That includes the loss to the Bulldogs (16-18) on Sunday, when the Mocs couldn’t contain guards Sierra Godbolt, Francie Morris and Kaylee Yarbrough, who combined for 59 points.
Those three were 9-for-14 from 3-point range, led by Yarbrough’s 5-for-7 showing, and helped the Bulldogs win their second straight meeting with UTC, with the Mocs having lost 77-70 at Samford on Feb. 26.
“When you have a team that’s able to spread the floor, you can’t have gaps. The pack-line defense isn’t as effective,” Schirmer said. “I feel like you’re kind of on an island by yourself every single time they’re driving to the basket, because if you bring help, that person’s going to hit a 3. It’s really a choice of are we hitting 2s or 3s at that point. I think that we tried a little switch-up in the fourth quarter that kind of brought us a little bit closer, and we were able to try and make a push.”
The Mocs (20-10) hit their first five shots — four of them 3s — in building a 14-3 lead out of the gate, but they made just six of their next 24 and allowed Samford to take a 35-27 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs’ advantage grew to as much as 13 points before Gianna Corbitt’s layup with nine seconds remaining in the third quarter cut it to 54-43 going into the fourth.
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UTC rallied in the final period behind a pair of SoCon honorees: junior guard and player of the year Caia Elisaldez and all-freshman selection Izzy McPherson. Elisaldez hit her first three shots of the period, and McPherson followed with a trio of 3-pointers in a 2:07 span, the final one trimming Samford’s lead to 60-58 with 5:35 to go.
The Bulldogs responded with Morris making a layup, hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key, then driving before finding Emily Bowman for a layup in the paint to make it 67-60 at the 3:35 mark.
UTC got within three on Ava Card’s 3 at 1:48 and had a chance to tie late, but Elisaldez and senior Kalifa Ford missed 3-point tries in the final 50 seconds, and Briana Rivera’s two free throws put the game away as Samford clinched the eight-team SoCon’s automatic berth for the NCAA Division I tournament.
The full 68-team bracket will be revealed next Sunday, and the Bulldogs — who were 8-16 overall and 1-6 in league play in early February after a 61-40 setback at UTC for their fifth straight loss — have earned their spot by peaking late under first-year head coach Matt Wise. They’ve lost just twice since that regular-season skid, and they avenged both defeats in Asheville, beating third-seeded Wofford 59-57 in Thursday’s quarterfinals and second-seeded East Tennessee State 57-48 in Friday’s semifinals.
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Elisaldez finished with 20 points and four assists Sunday, when McPherson had five 3s and 17 points. Corbitt and Frode Flos van der Schans added nine points each, and Corbitt grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Corbitt and Elisaldez, both on the All-SoCon first team for their regular-season success, were also named to the all-tournament first team.
“I just want a championship,” McPherson said. “We came here today to do one thing, and that was win.”
After last year’s SoCon title loss to UNC Greensboro, the Mocs received a bid to the 48-team Women’s National Invitation Tournament, where they won a home game in the first round before losing on the road to close out a 17-15 season. They shared the SoCon regular-season title this year, but the tournament crown remained out of reach.
“I’m gutted for our team,” Schirmer said Sunday. “March Madness is madness for a reason. I thought our team played very, very hard … I feel like it was heavyweight bout. All credit to Samford; I thought they played fantastic. I think from our standpoint, I’m proud of our fight. This group of young women, they’re very special individuals, whether that’s basketball-related or not, and now I’m very proud of them always, and that doesn’t change after today’s result.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.