The Chattanooga women's basketball team earned a hard-fought 53-49 decision against visiting Alabama A&M in the opening round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in McKenzie Arena on Saturday on the back of a career night by freshman Gianna Corbitt.
With the win, the Mocs now advance to play Troy on Monday, March 24 on the road in the Second Round of the WNIT. That game will be a rematch from a game earlier this season that took place back on Nov. 14 at the Roundhouse and resulted in a 76-66 win by the Trojans.
That game is set to be played at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) in Troy, Alabama, and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
It was a slow start to the night by UTC as Alabama A&M would open the night on a 6-0 scoring run. The Mocs slowly bu surely crawled their way back into the game over the course of the first quarter, and eventually Frode Flos van der Schans gave the Mocs their first lead of the night at the 1:35 mark of the frame, putting UTC up 14-12.
Over the course of the second neither team was really able to gain an inch on the other, that was until a late flurry of buckets gave Chattanooga a 29-23 advantage heading into the halftime break.
The Bulldogs remained a thorn in UTC's side throughout the third quarter, and with a late flurry of their own the Mocs held just a slight, 39-38 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of action at the Roundhouse. It was at this point that Chattanooga was able to turn to its young start, Gianna Corbitt, to carry the load.
The Mocs led by seven, 45-38, with 7:05 to go on a Corbitt put back. The Bulldogs answered with nine unanswered points to take the lead at 3:45 on Alisha Wilson's turnaround in the paint. The run continued 11-0 before Corbitt's layup with 2:10 remaining cur the deficit to 49-47.
Corbitt knotted the score at 49-all on the next possession with another layup. The defense got another stop forcing a shot clock violation at the 1:02 mark. The Bulldogs got a steal but a mishandle on the drive led to another turnover adding to the drama with 48.5 seconds on the clock.
Corbitt stepped to the line at 39.7 to put the Mocs back in front with two free throws. The Mocs defense went right back to lockdown mode forcing another shot clock violation with 8.5 ticks to go. Coach Deandra Schirmer called timeout and advanced the ball to midcourt. The Sigrun Olafsdottir inbound pass went to Corbitt who put the cherry on top with two free throws to complete the final tally.
RECORDS – Chattanooga 17-14 | Alabama A&M 21-11