DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — To say that the Chattanooga women’s basketball duo of Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson lit up the opening day of the Daytona Beach Classic would be an understatement, as the pair’s 46 combined points helped guide the Mocs to a gritty 64-54 win over Kent State on Friday.
The Mocs (5-1, 0-0 SoCon) scrapped their way to a plus-eight rebounding advantage over the taller Golden Flashes team (2-2, 0-0 MAC), and with Guinn and Thompson dominating the night offensively UTC was able to pull away and ultimately take down their MAC foes with yet another double-digit win.
Chattanooga got off to a slow start to open the game, trailing Kent State for most of the opening quarter. When the first 10 minutes had concluded, the Mocs found themselves trailing 18-14, the first time this season that UTC was trailing at the end of the first quarter.
The Mocs were able to bounce back in a major way through defensive stops, as UTC proceeded to close out the final seven minutes of the half on a 13-0 scoring run that saw Chattanooga now ahead 29-22 at halftime. Still riding the wave of momentum, the Mocs’ run would ultimately end as a 15-0 run that spanned a total of 7:46 of game time where KSU was kept off the board.
From that point the Golden Flashes were kept at arm’s length, primarily because of the unbelievable offensive performance of Jada Guinn. For those in attendance at the Ocean Center on Friday, they were treated by a masterclass by the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, native as she connected on numerous acrobatic layups and even her first three-pointer of the season. Guinn tallied her way all the way up to 26 total points, a new career-high for the fifth-year grad student.
Guinn wasn’t the only Moc putting on a show in Daytona Beach, as sophomore Raven Thompson dazzled as well for Chattanooga. Finishing with a season-high 20 points and season-high 12 rebounds, the Atlanta native earned her fifth double-double of her career and UTC’s first of the 2023-24 season.
Even with a late fourth quarter push from Kent State that cut the lead down to as little as seven, Guinn, Thompson and company weathered the storm and connected on clutch free throws down the stretch to maintain their distance from the Golden Flashes. As the final buzzer sounded, Chattanooga was victorious with a 64-54 win being notched to the team’s resume.
Beyond the astounding nights from both Guinn and Thompson, junior Addie Grace Porter also had herself a night statistically as she finished just one point shy of her third career double-double. Porter’s nine points and 10 rebounds, proved crucial for UTC in the game, as Chattanooga finished with an important +9 rebounding margin over the taller Golden Flashes.
FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
On the team’s performance
“They’re a good basketball team. We knew that the pressure was coming. We got a little tired. We still had a couple of stretches, but we didn’t have as many, I thought, tonight. Just some really big time performances. I’ll tell you what, Jada Guinn was really phenomenal. Raven Thompson fighting there. Her knees bothering her a little bit. There was that 40 hour bus trip we took. Addie Grace Porter. I’m gonna tell you what, that kid is a warrior. That’s a fun win.”
On playing with a smaller team and what is needed to get the win
“This is what you learn about it. We learn about who we are and it’s been a competitive spirit. That’s what we’ve talked about since we left UVA Wise. I didn’t think we had a competitive spirit. What happens when you have a competitive spirit is when things don’t go your way, you don’t have a ‘whoa is me’ attitude. When Coach Poppie is over there screaming at you, it’s not because I don’t like you. It’s something you’re not doing. Now listen to the message and we’ll love on you when we get out of here. That spirit then keeps you out of your lows, in my opinion. We’re gonna have to have it because we’re not big. We know that. We know we’re not big but we’re skilled. We out-rebounded them tonight 41-33 and do we have anyone over six-foot out there? That’s who we’ve got to become. We’ve got to be gritty. We’ve got to be tough. And then we just keep developing as a basketball team when it comes to skill and coaches putting them in the right position to be successful.”
TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
– Today’s game marked the first-ever meeting between Chattanooga and Kent State in women’s basketball.
– The Mocs have led all six games this year at the half.
– From 7:03 in the second to 9:17 in the third, UTC went on a 15-0 scoring run. This ranks as the third-longest of the season for the team.
– Best scoring runs of the year for UTC were 19-0 against King and 18-0 against Tennessee Tech.
– Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson continue their streak of having scored 10+ points each in every game this season for the Mocs, making this the sixth consecutive game. This is the first time this season that the duo has both logged 20+ in the same game.
– The last time the Mocs had two 20+ point scorers in the same game: March 3, 2023 against ETSU (Raven Thompson – 23, Yazz Wazeerud-Din – 20).
– Guinn and Thompson have now accounted for 207 of Chattanooga’s 428 total points on the year (48.4 percent of UTC’s scoring).
– Two Mocs players finished with 10+ rebounds in the game (Thompson – 12, Addie Grace Porter – 10).
– Shawn Poppie earned his 25th head coaching victory with the win. He is now tied for the third-fastest head coach in program history to hit the milestone, doing so in his 39th game with the team.
– Only Jim Foster (25 wins in first 28 games), Sharon Fanning (25 wins in first 38 games) have hit the milestone in fewer games. Poppie is now tied with Craig Parrott at 39 games to reach 25 wins.
– UTC shot 44.2 percent (23-for-52) from the field. The Mocs have shot above 40 percent from the floor in every game this season.
– Held Kent State to shoot just 9.1 percent (2-for-22) from three on the night. This is the lowest 3PT % and lowest amount of 3PT allowed by the Mocs this season.
UP NEXT: NORTHERN KENTUCKY
The Mocs will now take on the Northern Kentucky Norse (1-3, 0-0 Horizon) in the team’s second and final game of the Daytona Beach Classic, with tipoff between UTC and NKU scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET barring earlier games going longer than expected. Saturday’s game will be available to stream via FloHoops, and Larry Ward’s radio broadcast for Chattanooga will be available on 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM.
50 SEASONS OF CHATTANOOGA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The 2023 season for the Chattanooga women’s basketball team marks a major landmark for the program and the university, as UTC women’s basketball officially celebrates its 50th season of competition as a university sponsored athletic program. Following the adoption of the Title IX legislation back in 1972, UTC added women’s basketball, tennis and volleyball programs to its roster of athletic teams, bringing on five decades of history and success for each of the teams. Chattanooga WBB will be putting on multiple promotions and content pieces throughout the 2023-24 season to celebrate the program’s history, culminating in the team hosting its 50th Season Celebration and Reunion during the Mocs’ February 3 matchup against Furman at McKenzie Arena.
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