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SoCon Women’s Tournament comes to a conclusion as the 6 Seed Samford Bulldogs and 1 Seed Chattanooga Mocs face off to claim their right to go to the NCAA Tournament. The Mocs made their way to Sunday by eliminating 8 Seed WCU on Thursday, then 4 Seed Furman on Friday. Samford clawed their way to today’s championship game by winning out over 3 Seed Wofford Friday, then 2 Seed ETSU.
For Samford this is Coach Wise’s first year as Head Coach for The Bulldogs, wanting to prove that Samford has what it takes to secure a win. On the other side of the court, Coach Schirmer for Chattanooga wrapped up her 2nd season as HC. Schirmer advanced the Mocs to a 2nd round game in the 2025 WNIT.
First Half;
Starting out for The Bulldogs was Morris, Rivera, Tarpley, Godbolt, and Bowman. Starters for The Mocs were Elisaldez, McPherson, Van Der Schans, Corbitt, and Card.
To start the contest, Samford won the toss, but UTC went on a 14-3 run for the first 3:10. Samford returned the favor by coming back with a little help from clutch 3’s by Francie Morris and Kaylee Yarborough. However, The Bulldogs and Mocs traded baskets until Briana Rivera made a 3 point jumper by fast break for Samford. Additionally, a foul on Falon Bedke at 0:06 handed Samford 2 FT’s, both successful from Kaylee Yarborough to end the 1st with a 23-20 lead over The Mocs.
2nd period had a very defensive heavy start, with both Samford and UTC blocking shots, forcing turnovers and a steal to boot by Yarborough for Samford. Both teams continued to trade baskets leading Samford to a 7 point lead by 5:39 left in the half. High level and physical defense came back from both UTC and Samford, making both scoreless from 4:53 to 1:11. To break the drought, London Weaver scored a FT for The Mocs. In response, Francie Morris made a layup to bring Samford to a 35-27 lead to end the half.
Second Half;
Starting back up after the half, The Mocs went on a 6-2 run in the first 2:30. Back to back 3’s from Francie Morris brought Samford up to a 10 point lead. Izzy McPherson for UTC responded with another 3 at 5:32. Some gained momentum for The Mocs continued with a steal by Evie Bruce resulting in a 3 from Sarah Owona.
Consequently, Samford responded with back to back jumpers from Yarborough, but The Mocs ended the period scoring with a second chance layup from Gianna Corbitt with assist from Izzy McPherson.
Final Period for the contest, The Mocs would have to really push through and focus on defending Samford from hitting 3’s, as they were shooting 59%. Additionally, The Mocs were shooting a low 36% from the arc, and 40% for FG’s so finding and making the good shots were going to be the other key to success for Chattanooga. And that’s exactly what Izzy McPherson did at 7:32. 3 back to back 3’s to boost The Mocs to a 2 point deficit with 5:35 left in the contest.
Morris and Yarborough responded scoring 5 points combined for Samford to cement their lead. A foul on Morris however gave UTC 2 more points to lower the deficit. at 1:48, Ava Cord secured a 3 point jumper boosting the score to 68-65 Samford with 1:48 left.
Scoreless from 1:48-0:35, both Samford and UTC forced bad looks from the 3, and at 0:35, foul on Corbitt started the end of the contest. Samford shot 2-2 on FT’s, then a foul by Emily Bowman gave UTC 2 FG’s in return. Caia Elisaldez went 2-2 to bring the score 70-67 Samford. At 0.03, foul was called again on UTC, this time on Kalifa Ford. Briana Rivera of Samford shot 2-2 of FG’s, pushing Samford just out of reach for The Mocs to feasibly catch up with 0:02 on the clock.
SoCon Women’s Champs, The Samford Bulldogs
The Samford Bulldogs were crowned the 2026 SoCon Women’s Champions with an on court celebration. Coach Wise and his players punched their ticket to the 2026 NCAA Tournament in his first year as HC.
The NCAA Women’s tournament bracket will be announced on Sunday, March 15th, 2026. The Selection Program can be viewed at 8pm on ESPN.
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