STARKVILLE, Miss. --- Chattanooga women's basketball gave its best shot to the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon in Starkville, but it just wasn't enough as the Mocs ended up falling in the contest 69-44.
The Mocs (2-3) kept it tight with the Bulldogs (4-0) over the opening 20 minutes of action, as UTC trailed by only five points at the halftime break. However, a strong third quarter from MSU proved too much to overcome as Mississippi State would build up a lead right up until the final buzzer.
"The thing that we need from this group is consistency more than anything," head coach Deandra Schirmer said. "You see us go on runs, you see us get aggressive, obviously, cutting it down to end the quarter. We talk about if we don't have some poor fouls, some undisciplined fouls at the end of the shot clock, they fouled the three-point shooter and then Ava (Card) fouled another.
"It's a lot of undisciplined stuff, which with a young team that we have, you're gonna get some of that. But the thing that we want to impose on our team is if we could be consistent, we can hang with any team in the country. I feel like this is a good microcosm of that a little bit."
Chattanooga started the game slow out of the gate, with the Bulldogs controlling the tempo and physicality on their home court. After a 16-8 first quarter, MSU continued to mount pressure on the Mocs to end up with a 29-14 advantage on UTC with 3:31 remaining in the half.
However, this would be the start of what ended up becoming a 10-0 scoring run by the Mocs to close out the second quarter, sparked almost entirely by the play of true freshman Izzy McPherson, who was making her first collegiate start for the Mocs on the day. McPherson would account for six of the points during the scoring run.
Before the Bulldogs could blink, the Mocs were now looming heading into the locker rooms as MSU was now only ahead 29-24 at the break.
To start the third quarter, Mississippi State brought pressure to disrupt and force turnovers out of the Mocs early-on. Now with the momentum back behind them, the Bulldogs were looking to slam the door shut on UTC.
The Bulldogs would put together an extremely efficient quarter on both sides of the ball, out-scoring the Mocs 22-7 when all was said and done. The fourth wasn't much different as Chattanooga struggled to match the intensity that Mississippi State had been playing with.
In the long run, the Bulldogs proved just why they are currently receiving votes in both the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls, as MSU ended up running away with a 69-44 victory over the Mocs, avenging UTC's upset over the Bulldogs last season at McKenzie Arena.
McPherson, in her first collegiate start, would wind up scoring a team-high 16 points in the losing effort. The total not only marked a career-high for the Pleasant View, Tennessee, native, but it marks the fifth different leading scorer that the Mocs have had over the opening five games of the season.
Sigrun Olafsdottir was once again a stat sheet stuffer for the Mocs, leading the team in rebounds (9), assists (2), steals (2) and blocks (1). Caia Elisaldez would finish tied with Olafsdottir in the assist department while Karsen Murphy would tie Olafsdottir in blocks.
Frode Flos van der Schans joined McPherson in making her first collegiate start with the Mocs. The redshirt-sophomore from the Netherlands ended her day with two points and two rebounds.
FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
On Izzy McPherson and the whole team's contributions.
"Izzy [McPherson] played fantastic. I think we've had a different leading scorer each game. That's something we take a lot of pride in. Looking at another stat sheet with everybody that's getting in is contributing in some way whether it's rebounds, whether it's points. So from our standpoint, if we can find some consistency and keep this group to buy in, we're happy with the direction that we're moving in.
"Here's the thing we talk about all the time, if you meet Izzy on the street, she's real timid. When she gets in the game, it's this other gear and that's the piece that as a coaching staff, we're still learning. We have a lot of talented pieces, but we're still learning how we can put them together. I feel like we've been relying so heavily on Caia [Elisaldez] and Sigrun [Olafsdottir] to kind of create and for Izzy to come in and be able to create her own shots and hit some knockdown, that's really going to help us because now people gotta be out on that perimeter, they've got to be bellied up to Izzy. And if that's the case, then Caia can get some more open looks, Brooke's gonna get some open looks inside. I really feel like we saw some good things tonight even if the outcome really wasn't what we were looking for.
TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
- This was the eighth-ever meeting between the Mocs and the Bulldogs.
- Mississippi State now leads the all-time series 5-3.
- The Mocs are now 1-4 when playing in Starkville.
- UTC's last and only road win over MSU came on Dec. 17, 1985 (Mocs won 62-54).
- The Mocs have now had five different leading scorers in each of the team's opening five games:
vs. Shorter: Karsen Murphy (16)
vs. Tennessee Tech: Brooke Anya (12)
at NC Central: Gianna Corbitt (12)
vs. Troy: Caia Elisaldez (15)
at Mississippi State: Izzy McPherson (16)
- Chattanooga out-scored the Bulldogs 16-13 in the second quarter.
- The Mocs finished with more offensive rebounds (17) than the Bulldogs did (12).
- This led the Mocs to have 21 second-chance points in the game compared to Mississippi State's 13.
- Chattanooga shot a season-low 27.1 percent (16-for-59) from the floor.
UP NEXT: KING UNIVERSITY
Chattanooga will now once again return to McKenzie Arena, this time for a two-game homestand that will begin on Wednesday, November 20 against King University. The Mocs and the Tornado are set to square off at 6 p.m. ET with the game being broadcast via ESPN+ as well as WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM. UTC will then stay home for a game on Monday, November 25 against Lipscomb, which will also serve as the team's Education Day. Tip against the Bisons is set for 11 a.m. ET and will also be available on ESPN+ and WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM.
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