University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior point guard Caia Elisaldez scored a career-high 33 points, but the Mocs’ 2025-26 season ended with Thursday night’s 75-62 loss at North Dakota State in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
UTC finished off a 20-11 campaign that included a share of the Southern Conference regular-season title, but some of the warts from the Mocs’ recent struggles reared their ugly head as they lost for the sixth time in 10 games since winning 12 straight.
The Bison, who were the Summit League regular-season champions and are the No. 1 seed for their quadrant of the 32-team WBIT, improved to 29-4 and will host a second-round game Sunday against Columbia (21-8), which steamrolled St. John’s 74-26 in the first round.
The Mocs found themselves unable to get stops in Fargo — the same problem they had in their SoCon tournament title game loss to Samford in Asheville, North Carolina — which in turn exposed some of their offensive limitations. The Bison led by as many as 25 points in the third quarter and were never seriously threatened, although UTC — led by Elisaldez — did cut that lead in half before the end.
North Dakota State took control with a 19-2 run in the first half, led by an offense that had 28 points in the paint and 13 points off 11 UTC turnovers before the break.