CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Playing in front of a crowd of 1,661 spectators in McKenzie Arena, the Chattanooga Mocs put on a show as they defeated Samford 61-40 on their way to their 11^th consecutive win.

The win marks the halfway point of the conference season where Chattanooga has stood tall to every test thus far, as it is now 7-0 in league play and in first place in the SoCon.

For the seventh time this season, Chattanooga held its opponent to under 50 points. The Mocs really stepped up their defense in the fourth quarter, allowing just five points. Additionally, the Mocs totaled six blocks, which is a new season high. Samford's 40 points scored, ties a season low for the Bulldogs. 

Chattanooga had standout performances on the offensive side of the ball, none more than Izzy McPherson, who scored 20 points while bringing in seven rebounds, both of which were new career highs. Most notably, the redshirt-freshman buried six 3-pointers on seven attempts. She tied the McKenzie Arena record for most 3-pointers made in a game by a Chattanooga player.

Caia Elisaldez did what she does offensively, scoring 16 points and dishing out six assists. Defensively, Elisaldez impacted the game with a career-high five steals. Gianna Corbitt was right behind her with another solid performance, posting 14 points and five rebounds. She was 50% (5-10) from the field and knocked down two triples.

As a team, Chattanooga shot the ball at a rate of 43.1% (22-51) and 42.1% (8-19) from three. On the other hand, the Mocs held Samford to 27.8% (15-54) and 17.4% (4-23) in the same statistical categories. On the glass, Chattanooga outrebounded Samford 34-28, winning the rebound battle for the 13^th game in a row.

Records
Chattanooga: 15-5, 7-0 SoCon
Samford: 8-16, 1-6 SoCon

In Chattanooga's opening two possessions of the game, McPherson buried a 3-pointer before Falon Bedke scored an inside basket to go up 5-0. Later on in the period, 3-pointers from Gianna Corbitt and McPherson put the home side ahead 12-5. The Mocs then hit a cold spell, not scoring for 5:45 of gametime to end the period, allowing Samford to cut the lead to 12-9.

McPherson ended the scoreless run with another 3-pointer at the 8:58 mark of the second quarter. Samford responded though with four straight points to get within two points. The Mocs then gained back control of the game, using a 7-0 scoring run, with four points coming from Elisaldez to take a 22-13 lead.

Samford kept answering though, as Kaylee Yarbrough scored seven points in the final five minutes of the quarter to keep the game close. Elisaldez knocked down a pull-up jumper with 41 seconds left to put Chattanooga up 28-22 at halftime.
Each team had different ways of scoring the ball in the first half as six of Chattanooga's 10 made shots were 3-pointers while nine of Samford's 10 makes were 2-pointers.

In the third quarter, Samford scored five points at the foul line to immediately get back within one point. However, Chattanooga responded with an 11-0 run to lead 39-27. Ava Card, McPherson, Elisaldez, and Corbitt all scored in the run. A triple on the Bulldogs' final possession put the score at 44-35 after three quarters.

The fourth quarter was all Mocs. Chattanooga held Samford to just 12.5% (2-16) from the field and outscored the Bulldogs 17-5. Elisaldez scored eight of her 16 points in the final period. To close out the game, Chattanooga scored the final six points to cap off a 61-40 win.

Chattanooga moves to 32-12 all-time against Samford and 17-5 on its home court against the Bulldogs. The Mocs have won five of the last six meetings in the series. 

Quotes
Head Coach Deandra Schirmer

Opening Statement
"In this stretch of the season, it's all about are we getting better? Are we making sure every single game we're learning something? I talked to our team after our game on Friday that our defense wasn't good enough, and they were able to come out and respond in a way that was very impressive. Samford is probably, if not the best, one of the best offensive teams in our conference. They're very well coached, but for our defense to respond in that way, it was a waiting game of as soon as the shots start falling, we knew we could build that lead out."

UP NEXT: Chattanooga heads to Furman on Thursday night for an important SoCon game. Tip-off from Greenville, South Carolina is set for 7 p.m.  

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