Chattanooga Mocs Women’s Basketball secured a win against Western Carolina on February 19 at McKenzie Arena. After the game, Head Coach Deandra Schirmer highlighted the team’s defensive performance and rebounding as key factors in their success this season.
“We made a concerted effort understanding that our success this season has been directly correlated to our defense and rebounding. To hold a team 20 points under their average, I think that just showcases how locked in we’ve been this week, and how focused we’ve been on that defensive effort. In turn, we need to get our offense to then coincide with our defense. But, I’m really proud of our group and really proud of our effort,” Schirmer said.
Addressing the team’s ability to adjust during the game without using timeouts, Schirmer added: “A lot of coaches might call a timeout (in those circumstances). They know I don’t like calling timeouts because they got to figure it out in a tournament game or in a championship game. We need every single time out at the end of the game to really make sure that we can have every situational opportunity open to us. I was proud of our leadership.”
A junior guard discussed how the team responded after Western Carolina narrowed the gap in the fourth quarter: “I think we need to learn to push ourselves. We shouldn’t get in positions like that. Before we make those pushes, before we pick it up, we know that our third quarters are kind of our pick it up quarters right now. We need to finish out the game strong, and I think that we need to hone back in on that fact. We need to make sure that it doesn’t get to be a single-digit game where we need that push we got tonight.”
A sophomore forward spoke about participating in the Play for Kay game and dedicating her efforts to assistant coach Mall’s mother: “I don’t have any relatives or know anyone that suffers from breast cancer. Doing it for Coach Mall and getting her mom recognized as a breast cancer survivor…it was just something that I thought I could do because I don’t have anyone, but I know she does. I could just recognize her and show that she’s a strong person, she’s a survivor. Coach Mall is amazing. She’s the sweetest person in the world, and it just meant so much there.”
