BOX SCORE | SEASON STATS

TROY, Ala. --- Chattanooga women's basketball saw its 2024-25 officially come to an end on Monday night, as the Mocs fell 85-72 to the Troy Trojans in the Second Round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in Trojan Arena.

The Mocs saw outstanding offensive efforts from the likes of Caia Elisaldez (21 points) and Gianna Corbitt (20 points), but a second half in which the Trojans shot the ball at a 62.5 percent clip from the field including a 50 percent stroke from three-point range proved too much for UTC to keep up with in the final game of the team's postseason run.

Chattanooga ends its season with a 17-15 record overall under first-year head coach Deandra Schirmer. Schirmer has much to be excited about with the group coming back next season, but with that being said, the Mocs will say goodbye to the following seniors who played their final game in a UTC uniform on Monday night: Brooke Anya, Takia Davis, Karsen Murphy and Sigrun Olafsdottir.

GAME RECAP
UTC's offense came to play to open up the night against the Trojans, as the Mocs knocked down clutch shot after clutch shot to pull away from Troy. As the first quarter reached its end, the Mocs held onto an 18-14 advantage with the wind at their backs.

Neither team slowed down in the second frame as the two sides exchanged baskets back and forth. While the Mocs kept hitting their shots, they were never really able to get a comfortable distance away from the ever-looming Trojans. Shaulana Wagner then gave Troy its first lead since the opening basket of the game with just 0:20 to go in the first half. That lead would only last for those 20 seconds, however, as Caia Elisaldez winded down the clock before beating the buzzer with a go-ahead three as time expired. With that, the Mocs were headed to the locker room leading 37-35.

For much of the third quarter out of the halftime break, the two teams remained on even pegging with neither squad giving an inch to the other. That was until the 2:27 mark of the third, where the Trojans ripped off a crucial 13-2 scoring run, putting the Mocs in their first real hole of the game. Now with just 10 minutes left to play, UTC was facing a 63-51 deficit as the season hung in the balance.

Things went from bad to worse at the 8:19 mark of the fourth quarter when senior leader Sigrun Olafsdottir, who was playing in her final game as a Moc, fouled out of the game. Now opened up with the team's best defender on the bench, the Mocs were picked apart by a Troy team that seemingly couldn't miss. Zay Dyer put on a show for the Trojans while the Mocs saw the time tick away in the final frame. Chattanooga was never able to cut Troy's lead back down to single-digits, and as the final buzzer sounded it was Troy that emerged victorious, claiming an 85-72 result over UTC.
 
RECORDS – Chattanooga 17-15 | Troy 21-13

POSTGAME QUOTES | MORE
Deandra Schirmer, Head Coach
On her seniors:
"I'm gonna miss seeing them every day. Yeah. I'm gonna miss coming into the gym seeing Si and her just smiling a big old Cheshire cat smile every single day. I'm gonna miss her making an amazing play and then looking over at the bench like she just did something crazy. I'm gonna miss clutch Karsen, hitting some big shots and just her fire. She's one of the most competitive players I've ever coached. I'm gonna miss Brooke looking at me when she fouls, and she doesn't think she fouled, and she goes, 'what did I do'? You know, I'm gonna miss our long conversations. I'm going to miss Takia Davis and all the funny little quirks that she has. I think for this to be my first season here at Chattanooga. I wouldn't pick a different group to do it with."
 
INSIDE THE BOX – Chattanooga 72, Troy 85
Scoring Leaders – UTC: 21-Caia Elisaldez | Troy: 18-Zay Dyer
Rebounding Leaders – UTC: 7-Brooke Anya/Gianna Corbitt | Troy: 10-Dyer
Assist Leaders – UTC: 7-Caia Elisaldez | Troy: 8-Shaulana Wagner
Largest Leads – UTC: 10 (27-17, 6:49 2nd) | Troy: 16 (83-67, 1:10 4th)
Lead Changes: 10 | Times Tied: 5

• While the Mocs shot the ball at a 44.1 percent (26-for-59) clip, Troy still out-shot the Mocs by finishing 33-for-66 (50 percent) on the night.
• This was thanks in large part to the Trojans going 20-for-32 (62.5 percent) from the floor in the second half.
• Troy entered the game as the NCAA's No. 1 ranked team in rebounding. They proved it by out-rebounding the Mocs, 43-30.
• The Mocs were killed on the offensive glass specifically, as Troy logged 15 offensive boards to UTC's eight.
• This led the the Trojans scoring 15 second chance points while the Mocs only scored two.
• Troy our-scored Chattanooga 28-14 in the third quarter. The Mocs out-scored the Trojans 44-43 across the other three frames combined.

 
WNIT HISTORY

• 7th appearance in the WNIT. Last bid was 2020 which was cancelled by COVID.
• 5-7 all-time.
• The 1984 squad reached the finals of the 1984 WNIT losing a 67-66 thriller to Vanderbilt.

 
SERIES HISTORY
Meetings: 8
Record: 3-5
In Troy: 1-2
Postseason: 0-1
 
NOTES TO KNOW | MORE

• Coach Deandra Schirmer sits alongside Sharon Fanning-Otis and Wes Moore as the only Mocs head women's basketball coaches to win a postseason tournament game.
• Elisaldez (21 points) and Corbitt (20 points) mark the first time two UTC layers have finished with 20+ points in the same game since February of 2024.
• Corbitt also has now logged back-to-back 20+ point outings to close out the season.
• Elisaldez's 21 points mark her seventh career 20-point game, all of which have come this season.
• Sigrun Olafsdottir, in her final game of her career, officially tied AJ Caldwell and David Jean-Baptiste for the most career games played by any men;s OR women's basketball player in UTC history with the trio all sat tied at 152.
• Tonight's game marked the end of the following seniors' collegiate careers: Brooke Anya, Takia Davis, Karsen Murphy and Sigrun Olafsdottir.

 
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