CHATTANOOGA --- It was a defensive fight to the very end of Thursday's matchup between Chattanooga women's basketball and UNC Greensboro, but a slow offensive start for the Mocs proved fatal as the Spartans ended up pulling away to a 58-50 victory in McKenzie Arena.

The Mocs (10-11, 5-3 SoCon) stifled UNCG (16-6, 7-1 SoCon) to one of its worst shooting performances this season, but early offensive woes for Chattanooga put the Mocs in a hole they couldn't recover from as the Spartans went on to claim a crucial victory in the SoCon title race.

"I'm really proud of how we battled back in the second even though we weren't necessarily hitting shots and we were able to hold them to single digits," head coach Deandra Schirmer said. "I thought the third and the fourth they shot a lot of free throws and we've got to learn how to defend without fouling. We've also got to be able to rebound the basketball.

"I think that even though we out-rebounded them the ten offensive rebounds they got, it felt like they were scoring on it every single time. 15 points off second chance. You lose a game by eight, that's the game right there."

Early on it was looking like the game was going to be a back-and-forth contest with each team trading buckets over the opening two minutes. UNCG saw itself leading 5-4 on the Mocs with 8:06 left in the first quarter following a Caia Elisaldez basket, but unfortunately for UTC that would be the last points scored by the Mocs until the 8:58 mark of the second quarter.

Struggling to find the bottom of the net while recording a total of eight turnovers in the first quarter, Chattanooga stalled out on offense while UNCG was able to build up a 14-4 advantage by the end of the first quarter.

The Mocs were once again held to single digits in the second quarter, as UTC ended up only scoring eight points in the frame. While Chattanooga's defense kept the Mocs in it, they were desperately looking for an offensive spark as the Spartans took a 21-12 halftime lead into the locker room. This marked Chattanooga's fewest points scored in a half this season.

Coming out of the break, the Mocs found their offensive spark in Caia Elisaldez, who utilized her speed to slice and dice the UNCG defense. However, while the sophomore found her footing on the offensive side of the ball, so did the Spartans as they seemingly found an answer to nearly every basket the Mocs were able to get.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Mocs found themselves trailing 40-30. Elisaldez continued to will the Mocs towards the finish line with some help from freshman Gianna Corbitt, who finished the day with 11 points. Despite this, the Mocs just couldn't close the gap the Spartans had created as UNCG ended up coming away with a 58-50 victory over UTC in the Roundhouse.

Elisaldez finished her night with a team-high 20 points. This marks her third-straight game having scored 20+ for the Mocs, as well as her fourth-straight game leading the team in scoring. She also led UTC with four assists on the night.

Corbitt on the other hand paired her 11 points with a team-leading nine rebounds, finishing just shy of her fifth career double-double.

FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
On holding UNCG to 58 points.
"I know we have the best defense in the SoCon, I know our players work hard, I know our staff works hard on scout and I know our players take a lot of pride in that and we know we want to be gritty and we wanna get it done that way. I think that when everything else is going crazy in a game, our defense is really the one to push us forward."

TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
- This marked the 67th meeting between Chattanooga and UNCG.
- The Mocs now lead the all-time series 51-16.
- UTC is 23-6 all-time when hosting the Spartans.
- UNCG has now won back-to-back games over the Mocs.
- This snaps a 10-game streak in which neither team has been able to string together back-to-back wins over the other.
- The last time either team had won back-to-back games over the other was when the Mocs won two straight over UNCG between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
- Chattanooga currently holds the longest active streak in the entire NCAA when it comes to consecutive games with a made three-pointer.
- Dating back to December 1999, UTC has made a three-pointer in 797 straight games.
- The Mocs were held to just four points in the first quarter, the team's lowest scoring quarter of the entire 2024-25 season.
- UTC was also held to just 12 points in the first half, also a season-low for the Mocs in a half this season.
- Chattanooga out-rebounded UNCG 38-32.
- The Mocs finished with 19 turnovers compared to UNCG's 15.
- UTC out-scored UNCG in the paint, 28-18.
- UNC Greensboro led for the entire game.
- Caia Elisaldez finished with a team-high 20 points, her third-straight 20+ point game for UTC.

UP NEXT: WESTERN CAROLINA
Chattanooga will now have a day to regroup before welcoming Western Carolina to the Roundhouse this Saturday, February 8, at 2 p.m. ET for the front half of what will be a doubleheader with the Chattanooga men's basketball team. Fans will be able to catch Saturday's game either on ESPN+ or over the radio on WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM or The Varsity app.

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