Despite having less than 48 hours to prepare for Marshall, an opponent that plays an unorthodox style of basketball, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women came out of the gates hot in the first quarter of Sunday's game at McKenzie Arena.
Fresh off Friday's big road victory against Austin Peay, the host Mocs knocked down 61% of their 18 attempts in the first quarter and scored 27 points, building a 15-point lead that swelled to 18 after a Sigrun Olafsdottir 3-pointer a minute into the second quarter.
But then something changed. Maybe it was the constant pressure, maybe it was inexperience at certain positions as the Mocs brought in three players off the bench with three Division I games to their credit, but things started to get sloppy.
UTC turned the ball over 19 times in the final three quarters, including a third period when it had as many turnovers (eight) as shots. The Thundering Herd had cut the lead to one by the end of that quarter, then pulled away late in a back-and-forth final period with three ties and three lead changes to win 79-74, giving the Mocs their first loss after a pair of wins in their second season under head coach Shawn Poppie.
The Mocs had seven assists on 11 made baskets in the first quarter; they had only six assists the rest of the way.
"I think they got momentum there early in the second half and things snowballed for a little while," Poppie said. "We gave them a little push at the end, but it just wasn't quite enough. My hopes are we can learn from it. I'm proud of the kids; they fought. We just had some mental lapses there during that (third-quarter) stretch, more mental than physical, and it was one that we couldn't quite get over the hump today.
"Hopefully we'll learn from it and we'll get better, but I'm definitely still proud of the group I've got in there."
The Mocs, who return to competition at 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday at Tennessee Tech (0-1), were led by Raven Thompson's 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Jada Guinn added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists but also had five turnovers, while freshman Hannah Kohn (11 points, three 3s) and Olafsdottir (10 points) also reached double figures.
Point guard Addie Porter — primarily tasked with handling the Marshall pressure — had seven points, six rebounds and five assists while playing all 40 minutes for the second consecutive game.
Marshall turned UTC's 19 turnovers into 28 points, but the bigger problem for the Mocs was their defense allowing Roshala Scott to constantly drive the lane for layups on her way to a 31-point game. Abby Beeman finished with 18 for the Herd (1-1), while Breanna Campbell scored 17.
"You can learn from a game, win or lose, and I think from this game (the lesson is) we just need to play a full 40 minutes," Guinn said. "I think for about 37 minutes we did what we were supposed to do. We knew they were going to play a system of press, wanting to get a lot of possessions, but we've just got to do for 40 minutes what we're supposed to do."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.