Lakelyn Bouldin spent 15 minutes in the ice bath Friday afternoon in Cullowhee, N.C. So did Jasmine Joyner and the rest of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team.
Their opinions?
"Miserable," Bouldin said.
Joyner had a much different take on it.
"I appreciate it a lot," the Mocs' senior said by phone Friday. "It makes you better, makes you fresh for the next game. Once you take the soreness off of you, it makes you feel fresh."
After Thursday night, the Mocs like the thought of starting fresh.
They suffered their 10th loss of the season at UNC Greensboro, one marred by some late-game mistakes and poor rebounding, which led to 17 offensive rebounds by the Spartans. On the postgame radio broadcast, UTC coach Jim Foster bemoaned what he called "reluctant players."
"When you work so hard to come up with a quality shot, or you get to a spot where you have a quality shot, you have to take it," he said. "We have some players that don't pull the trigger when they need to."
Some players not taking open shots caused others to have to, and point guard Chelsey Shumpert launched 11 3-point attempts against the Spartans. Joyner said Foster made the point during Friday's practice that when she does that, the Mocs "aren't a good team."
Opponents have started to key on Bouldin, UTC's primary 3-point shooter, which has sometimes caused the team's offense to get bogged down. That's caused other players to have to look for opportunities, and Foster wants them to take the shots they get.
Going into this afternoon's game at Western Carolina, the Mocs are even with first-place Mercer in the loss column and hold any tiebreaker advantage due to their season sweep, so their biggest priority is getting back to the basics of playing team basketball - moving the ball, getting open looks, making those open looks, defending and rebounding.
"It all starts within our heads," Bouldin said. "Nobody was really theirselves (against UNCG). We were reluctant, and we can't be like that. We have to stay confident knowing that everybody is going to give us their best shot. We have to prove a point to them."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.