CHATTANOOGA --- Chattanooga women's basketball is back on the road this week for a pair of Southern Conference tilts against Wofford and Furman.
The Mocs had a big win over ETSU last Saturday, currently putting UTC in a tie for second place in the conference standings and two games ahead of fourth-place Furman. Chattanooga will look to continue its climb up the SoCon standings this weekend with a pair of games against two of the top four programs in the SoCon: Wofford and Furman.
UTC will open its week in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Thursday, January 30 by taking on the first-place Terriers at 7 p.m. ET. The Mocs will then travel down the road to Greenville, South Carolina, to face the Paladins on Saturday, February 1 at 2 p.m. ET.
Both of this week's road contests can be streamed on ESPN+. For Thursday's game at Wofford, fans can also tune in to WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM whereas Saturday's game at Furman will be available to listen to on WFLI 104.3 FM. Fans can also follow along with the radio broadcast on The Varsity app.
GAME DAY INFORMATION
Opponent: Wofford
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2025
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Follow the game live online on ESPN+, WFLI, The Varsity App or the GoMocs App. Links are available online at GoMocs.com.
Opponent: Furman
Date: Saturday, February 1, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Follow the game live online on ESPN+, WFLI, The Varsity App or the GoMocs App. Links are available online at GoMocs.com.
ABOUT CHATTANOOGA (9-9, 4-1 SoCon)
The Mocs had a big win over in-state rival ETSU last Saturday, defeating the Buccaneers 48-46. The win gave UTC a big-time gap between themselves and fourth-place Furman in the league standings, as Chattanooga's 4-1 SoCon record has the Mocs tied with UNCG in second place. The Mocs have now strung together three-straight wins as well as having victories in five of their last six games. Caia Elisaldez continues to dazzle for the Mocs as the sophomore actively leads the team in scoring (11.2 points/game) as well as assists (4.6 assists/game) this season. Sigrun Olafsdottir has also come into her own as of late, having netted 11 points for UTC in their most recent win over ETSU. Olafsdottir has also been a menace on the defensive front, averaging a team-leading 2.2 steals/game this year. Freshman Gianna Corbitt is also making her case to become UTC's sixth-ever SoCon Freshman of the Year award winner as we head into the final stretch of regular season games. Corbitt currently leads all SoCon freshmen in scoring (10.1 points/game), rebounding (6.7 rebounds/game), steals (1.6 steals/game) and blocks (0.8 blocks/game) this season.
ABOUT WOFFORD (13-5, 5-0 SoCon)
Wofford has put together a historic start to their SoCon season, with the Terriers opening league play a perfect 5-0 for the very-first time in program history. They enter their game against Chattanooga carrying a seven-game win streak. In fact, the Terriers most recent loss came back on December 29, 2024, when Wofford battled it out with No. 2 ranked South Carolina in Columbia. Currently holding a record of 13-5, the preseason favorites to win the conference have been an offensive and defensive juggernaut, and they will look to keep their momentum going forward as they take on a UTC team that the Terriers have not defeated since 2023. With multi-time SoCon Player of the Year Rachael Rose out for the year due to injury, the Terriers have turned to Evangelia Paulk to shoulder much of the load for the team. Paulk is currently averaging 11.5 points/game while shooting above 32 percent on field goals and three-pointers this season. She also leads the team in rebounding (8.1 rebounds/game) and steals (3.2 steals/game) with her steals total also leading the Southern Conference.
ABOUT FURMAN (12-9, 2-3 SoCon)
The Paladins have had a middling start to their SoCon season, as a 2-3 start to league play currently has them in fourth place in the latest conference standings. Holding a record of 12-9, Furman has grabbed wins over Mercer and Western Carolina in SoCon action. However, double-digit losses to Wofford, UNCG and Samford leave a lot of question marks surrounding the Paladins as they head into the back nine of the SoCon season. Leading the charge for the Paladins has been grad student Tate Walters, who leads the team by averaging 13.2 points/game on the year. Walters also leads Furman in assists (4.1 assists/game) and steals (2.0 steals/game) this season. She is joined by senior forward Kate Johnson, whose 60.3 field goal percentage leads the entire Southern Conference. Behind that shooting split, Johnson is currently averaging 11.9 points/game whilst leading the team in rebounding (7.1 rebounds/game) and blocks (1.1 blocks/game) this season.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET
Chattanooga's last game against Wofford capped off their 2023-2024 season with a massive 84-67 win to end the regular season in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Mocs were down early but put together a 38-point swing back in Chattanooga's favor. Mocs alum Jada Guinn put together a 27-point performance to fuel the comeback, and the Mocs didn't look back. As for Furman, Chattanooga most recently met them on the road a season ago, where they put together a hard-fought 60-53 win. The Paladins had a quick start, but their advantage didn't last long before the Mocs gained back the lead. Furman cut down Chattanooga's lead in the second quarter, but the Mocs stayed on top for the win. All-time the Mocs are 55-8 against Wofford, including holding a 25-4 record when visiting the Terriers. Against Furman, the Mocs are 61-31 all-time with an away record of 28-16.
TOP NOTES
• Deandra Schirmer finds herself in elite company five games into her SoCon coaching career, as she is just the fourth coach in program history to win at least four of her first five SoCon games with the Mocs. She joins Jim Foster (5-0), Katie Burrows (4-1) and Sharon Fanning (4-1) as the only other UTC head coach to accomplish the feat.
• Gianna Corbitt currently leads all SoCon freshmen in scoring (10.1 points/game), rebounding (6.7 rebounds/game), steals (1.6 steals/game) and blocks (0.8 blocks/game) this season. This is also tied for the most starts by a SoCon freshman (16) this season.
• With a 4.6 assists/game average and having already recorded a team-leading 78 assists this year, Caia Elisaldez is on pace to finish the 2024-25 regular season with 119 total assists. If Elisaldez does in fact reach that total, she would be the first Moc to finish with 100+ assists in a season since Alicia Payne finished with 123 assists during the 2015-16 season.
• UTC officially holds the active NCAA streak for most consecutive games with a made three-pointer. Chattanooga's streak stands at 794 straight games with a made three-pointer and the streak dates back over 25 years to December 1999.
• Sigrun Olafsdottir is the program record holder for most career games played (138) and starts (135) in a UTC uniform. She just narrowly sits outside the Top 10 in the following career stats for the program: assists (302), three-pointers made (126), three-point attempts (394) and steals (170).
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