MACON, Ga. --- The Chattanooga women's basketball team heads into a pivotal week for the 2025 SoCon standings, as the Mocs travel to Mercer and Samford this Thursday and Saturday with their sights set on remaining in the SoCon title picture as the regular season starts to reach its twilight hours.
The Mocs currently sit in sole possession of third place, but the top four of the Southern Conference pack sit with only three games separating first from fourth place, meaning that this week's games present a crucial opportunity for UTC to pick up key wins in the title race. Chattanooga currently holds an 11-11 record on the year including a 6-3 record in league play. This puts the Mocs two games back from first-place UNCG and one game back from second-place Wofford.
This week, UTC will battle it out with a pair of scrappy squads that make up the sixth and seventh-place spots in the latest SoCon standings. The Mocs will open their week in Macon on Thursday, February 13, by taking on Mercer at 7 p.m. ET. This will then be followed up on Saturday, February 15, with the team traveling to Birmingham for a game against Samford at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT).
Both of this week's games will be available to stream on ESPN+ and can be caught over the radio on WFLI's main flagship stations of 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM or The Varsity app.
GAME DAY INFORMATION
Opponent: Mercer
Date: Thursday, February 13, 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: Samford
Date: Saturday, February 15, 2025
Time: 3:00 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 (11-11, 6-3 SoCon)
The Mocs have done a stellar job at proving a lot of people wrong over the course of the 2025 Southern Conference season, as UTC's 6-3 SoCon record currently has the Mocs in third place in the conference coming down the stretch of the regular season. UTC's three league losses have come at the hands of the top two teams in the standings, with the Mocs dropping two games to first-place UNCG while also having a road loss to second-place Wofford. Beyond that, Chattanooga has been grabbing wins over some otherwise threatening opponents. Caia Elisaldez and Sigrun Olafsdottir have become workhorses for the Mocs, as each player is currently averaging over 35 minutes/game for UTC this season. Elisaldez has proven to be the face of Chattanooga's offense, as the sophomore is currently leading the team in scoring (13.0 points/game) and assists (4.5 assists/game) this year. Olafsdottir on the other hand has been UTC's defensive anchor, as the Iceland native currently leads the team in steals with an average of 2.4 steals/game this season.
ABOUT MERCER (7-16, 2-6 SoCon)
The Mercer Bears enter their mid-week contest against the Mocs looking to light a fire under themselves as the SoCon season starts to wind down, as Mercer's 2-6 record in league play currently has the Bears slated in seventh out of eight teams. The Bears have been able to grab two wins over the likes of Samford and Western Carolina, but beyond that have really struggled to find their footing and identity this year, suffering numerous blowout losses at the hands of league opponents. Mercer still isn't a team to be taken lightly, as players like Ashlee Locke, who is averaging 1.6 blocks/game this season, will make things difficult on the Chattanooga offense in the paint. Ariana Bennett will be the woman to watch on the offensive end for the Bears, as the junior is currently the only Mercer player currently averaging double digits in the scoring department by averaging a team-high 10.8 points/game.
ABOUT SAMFORD (8-16, 3-5 SoCon)
While Samford enters the week ranked sixth in the Southern Conference, the Bulldogs have quickly become a sneaky thorn in many teams' sides over the last couple games after getting back Emily Bowman from injury. The Bulldogs have grabbed wins over Mercer and Western Carolina in two of the their last three games, and even gave league-leading UNCG a scare in Greensboro two weekends ago. A very capable shooting team, Samford has a number of offensive threats that the Mocs will need to key in on, including Kennedy Langham (11.0 points/game), Claire Johnson (10.9 points/game) and Sadie Stetson (7.5 points/game). This trio of shooters, when paired with the six-foot-five frame of Bowman down low, make for a scary sight on the offensive end of the court for any team matching up against them. Bowman, who is averaging a team-high 11.2 points/game and 8.5 rebounds/game, also leads the Southern Conference in blocks this year by averaging 2.1 blocks/game over her 18 appearances for the Bulldogs.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET
While the last time UTC met each of these teams resulted in wins for the Mocs, it couldn't have been two more different types of victories for Chattanooga. In UTC's most recent contest against Mercer, a January 18 matchup with the Bears at the Roundhouse, the Mocs cruised to a 60-37 blowout win on the shoulders of Gianna Corbitt, who finished with a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. This differed vastly from UTC's January 16 game against Samford, which also resulted in a Chattanooga win but this time only by a narrow 69-63 margin. The game was scrappy right down to the wire, and thanks to the Mocs out-scoring the Bulldogs 22-10 in the final quarter of action, UTC emerged victorious. All-time the Mocs are 24-11 against Mercer, as the Mocs have won each of the last six meetings with the Bears. This includes Chattanooga holding a 9-7 record when playing the Bears in Macon. As for Samford, UTC holds an all-time record of 31-11 against the Bulldogs with the Mocs carrying a four-game win streak against the Bulldogs into Birmingham. UTC's record when playing at Samford currently stands at 12-6.
TOP NOTES
• Sigrun Olafsdottir officially entered the program's Top 10 in career steals in UTC's most recent game against Western Carolina, as Olafsdottir now actively ranks tenth in Chattanooga women's basketball history with 184 career steals. This season alone, she has amassed a total of 53 total steals, blowing her previous single-season best of 39 from the 2022-23 season out of the water.
• Gianna Corbitt leads all SoCon freshmen in rebounding (7.0 rebounds/game), steals (1.7 steals/ game) and blocks (0.8 blocks/game) while ranking fourth in scoring (9.7 points/game) this season. Corbitt has more double-doubles this season (4) than the rest of the SoCon's freshmen combined (2).
• With a 4.5 assists/game average and having already recorded a team-leading 94 assists this year, Caia Elisaldez is on pace to finish the 2024-25 regular season with 116 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 2015-16.
• UTC holds the active NCAA streak for most consecutive games with a made three-pointer. Chattanooga's streak stands at 798 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 (142) and starts (139). Her minutes/game average is also staggering, with her clocking 38.0 minutes/game this season. This minutes/game average not only leads the SoCon, but ranks second in the entire NCAA.
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