The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team benefited from dominant performances by Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson in Florida on Friday, when the Mocs got just enough in the way of contributions all around to defeat Kent State 64-54 in the first game of the Daytona Beach Classic.
UTC (5-1) will wrap up the event by facing Northern Kentucky (1-3) at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Guinn, a graduate transfer from Tennessee Tech, scored a career-high 26 points. Thompson — despite the sophomore battling knee trouble — chipped in 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Mocs, who looked much better after a relatively lackluster performance in their previous game, a 75-62 home win against UVA Wise last Saturday.
"I didn't think we had the competitive spirit last week," UTC coach Shawn Poppie said on the postgame radio broadcast. "What happens when you have a competitive spirit is, when things don't go well, you don't have a 'woe is me' attitude when Coach Poppie's 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. We'll love on you when we get out of here.
"That spirit keeps you out of your roles, in my opinion, and we're going to have to have it because we're not big. We know that, right? We're not big, but we're skilled."
Kailyn Ferrell had a solid outing off the bench for the Mocs, with four points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. UTC outscored Kent State 32-22 in her time on the court.
Poppie's group finished with a 41-33 advantage in rebounds against the larger Golden Flashes (2-2), with 5-foot-4 point guard Addie Porter chipping in 10 rebounds and nine points for UTC.
The Mocs were able to pull away in the second period, outscoring Kent State 15-4 in that 10-minute span for a 29-22 halftime lead.
UTC's advantage grew to 17 in the third quarter after eight straight points by Guinn, and the Golden Flashes were never able to seriously threaten the rest of the way, getting to within eight on a couple of occasions but no closer.
"We've got to be a gritty team. We've got to be tough," Poppie said. "We just have to keep developing as a basketball team when it comes to skill and coaches putting them in the right position to be successful."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.