LINCOLN, Neb. --- Chattanooga women's basketball came up short in a Top 25 matchup this Sunday, with the Mocs falling to No. 24 Nebraska, 66-42, at PinnacleBank Arena in Lincoln.
While the Mocs (4-8) were able to keep the game within single digits over the course of the first half, Nebraska's three-point shooting and defense proved too much in the long run for UTC to handle as the Cornhuskers pulled away in the final 20 minutes of the game.
"I feel like we had some defensive breakdowns in the second that I'm not really happy about," head coach Deandra Schirmer said. "Obviously, Nebraska has a good coaching staff. They went to some different looks, but we were just gassed, in my opinion.
"This is the first game that we've looked really, really tired. We had Caia [Elisaldez] playing a lot of minutes and she's coming off not doing anything for the past three days. I felt like there was a lot of fatigue mistakes that we made down the stretch that were a little bit frustrating."
Out of the gates, the Mocs came out ready for a fight with UTC scoring the game's first points of the day. Nebraska wouldn't get their first lead of the day until the 7:10 mark of the first, and even that quickly disappeared for the Cornhuskers after back-to-back buckets by Caia Elisaldez and Sigrun Olafsdottir.
The Cornhuskers would eventually crawl back the lead following back-to-back three-pointers to end the frame, but through the opening 10 minutes the Mocs found themselves only trailing 14-11 to the No. 24 team in the country.
Nebraska found its offense to kick off the second quarter, string together an 11-5 scoring run to put the Huskers up 25-16 near the midway point of the frame. UTC's defense once again brought out the clamps, though, limiting Nebraska to just four more points over the remainder of the quarter. Heading into halftime, the Mocs were down single-digits to the Cornhuskers as UTC trailed 29-20 at the break.
Unfortunately for the Mocs, their offense would stall out the remaining two quarters in Lincoln while the Huskers found their rhythm. Connecting on multiple threes in the second half, the Cornhuskers saw their lead double with Chattanooga finding no answer.
A late scoring surge by UTC at the end of the third quarter helped Chattanooga only trail 44-30 at the conclusion of the frame, but Nebraska would end up blowing the game wide open in the fourth, out-scoring the Mocs 22-12 in the final quarter to claim a 66-42 victory over UTC.
UTC's 42 points tie for the team's lowest scoring output of the season. The Mocs' other 42-point game came against Kennesaw State a week ago.
Caia Elisaldez and Ava Card would finish tied for the team-high in scoring, with each contributing 10 points to the cause. For Elisaldez, it marks her third time leading the team in scoring this season, while Card's 10 points marked a career-high and her first time leading the team in scoring this year.
Elisaldez added a season-high seven assists to her stat line, finishing one shy of her career-high of eight from last year. Sigrun Olafsdottir and Gianna Corbitt tied with a team-leading seven boards in the rebound department.
FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
On difference between first half and second.
"I think when we're trying to get alternative looks away from the ball screen and we're getting wide open looks and it's not fall, it's a little bit tough. I honestly thought this in the first half, that this was one of our better executions from an offensive standpoint. We were able to see some things and then I thought in the second half, we were just completely compromised with their physicality. I thought they upped the physicality a little bit. You never love when an official tells you 'My bad' when it would have been an 'and-1', but you know, that happens. They make mistakes too."
TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
- Today's game marked the third meeting all-time between Chattanooga and Nebraska.
- The all-time series now stands at 2-1 in favor of the Cornhuskers.
- This is the first meeting between the teams since March 23, 2013, when the Mocs and Cornhuskers played each other in the 2013 NCAA Tournament (Nebraska won 73-59).
- This game also marked the very-first time that these two teams played a game in Lincoln.
- Coach Schirmer went with the following starting five: Elisaldez, Olafsdottir, Murphy, Corbitt, Anya.
- The Mocs are now 1-3 when rolling with that starting lineup.
- It is tied for the second-most common starting five for UTC this season (four total games).
- Nebraska out-rebounded UTC 40-33.
- UTC led for a total time of 3:14 in this game.
- UTC only trailed Nebraska 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
- The Huskers won the turnover battle by forcing 18 and committing only 12.
- UTC's 42 points scored tied the team's season-low for scoring.
UP NEXT: SALEM UNIVERSITY
Chattanooga now returns home for the team's non-conference finale on Saturday, December 21 with the Mocs welcoming Division II's Salem University (1-10) to the Roundhouse. Tipoff against the Tigers is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET at McKenzie Arena, and fans not in attendance will be able to follow along with the action either on ESPN+ or over the radio on WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM or The Varsity app.
FOLLOW CHATTANOOGA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Follow @GoMocsWBK on Twitter & @gomocswbk on Instagram for the most up-to-date information and news regarding Chattanooga women's basketball.
GoMocs.com is the official website of the Chattanooga Mocs. Buy officially licensed gear in our online store. The Mocs can also be followed on their official Facebook page or on Twitter. Find out how to join the Mocs Club and support more than 300 student-athletes by clicking here.
