Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga 51, ETSU 46
Johnson City, Tenn. | Brooks Gymnasium
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Deandra Schirmer, head coach
Opening Statement
"I'm so proud of this group. I'm like overwhelmed right now. I need a five second cool down real quick. The way that we won that game was that ETSU got a big lead in that fourth quarter, and then we just had winning play after winning play after winning play. I think back to Sigrun (Olafsdottir) getting those steals back-to-back, Caia (Elisaldez) running out and getting that layup. I also think back to my staff. My staff is fantastic. We called a timeout, it was a baseline out of bounds and Alexis Uffmann drew up one heck of a set for us to tie the game. There's also our situational basketball, which we talk about all the time. I talk to this team about how we're making a push for second in conference, and we obviously can't catch UNCG since they swept us but we still wanna make a push at them. I really felt like this game could be the game we point back to where we started to gather momentum going into the conference tournament. To see how our players responded and how they trust in each other, I just think it was big play after big play. They way down the stretch we were defending and throwing different looks at them, just great defending and rebounding of the basketball, and then Caia knocked down some huge free throws. It's something to be said where yes, she's the best player on the court every single time we step out here, but she's also the most clutch while doing it on 40 minutes. When we needed her most we went to her and she came through. I'm just so proud of her and our whole entire team. It's a gutsy win, but sometimes that's what you've gotta do on road games."
On Gianna Corbitt's dominant first half.
"She's somebody that people have to game plan for, and she can really shoot the three. We practice it all the time, and when teams are guarding off of her and she's hitting those threes, she's completely unguardable. She went a little cold in the second, but I still want her shooting those. Listen, G and I are gonna have a grand ole time together where we'll have a lot of fun stuff over these four years together. The biggest thing with her is how much she's maturing. She's the one that called the timeout when Caia got trapped in the corner. She's learning the game outside of just being dominant, and I think that naturally she can just be dominant but now she's starting to manipulate the game, which is scary days for whoever is facing us."
On ETSU being able to start the second half on a 9-0 run thanks to their offensive rebounding.
"It's tough for us on the offensive glass sometimes with the way that we are defensively. We have our posts that are getting out in transition so they're not always in there to secure rebounds, but I really just thought that they were out-hustling us. I got into them a little bit in the second half where I was like, 'they're out-working us'. We've all lost games, I've lost games in my career and this season, but I do not ever want us to be getting out-worked. That's how they responded was they came out and just worked and worked and worked. I'm just so proud of the effort that we had. They're starting to learn what it means to play like a champion. Not just be a good basketball player, but what it looks like to be a champion."
Caia Elisaldez, So., G
On being able to scrap out a win over ETSU.
"We came out in the second half and just weren't hitting the way that we wanted to. We had to figure out a way to adjust because they were hitting pretty much all game honestly, credit to them. We had to adjust our defense and adjust our offense and just figure out ways where we could score. All in all, the team's grit got us this win. Our grit, our hard work, the way we worked on the plays where we needed it the most, that's what I believe took us through to a win."
On ETSU's ability to offensive rebound.
"They were rebounding really well. Again, credit to them because they're a great team. We definitely had to adjust to that and like Coach D said, our sets do put us in a position where it's harder for us to get there, but I do think we just found a way. That's the key purpose to our team right now. We're finding a way, and that's the only way to really describe us. The hard work and the grit that we have out there, as much as they may have had more offensive rebounds, we had more heart."
On what was going through her head when she had to sink clutch free throws late in the fourth.
"Honestly after I landed wrong I was just like, this one's gonna be a little rough but it's okay. Just knew that I had to do whatever I needed to do for my team, which in this case was sink those free throws. That's all that matters is doing whatever they need me to do."
