The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team fell to 0-2 in the 2019-20 season with a 84-55 loss to Hampton in the Mocs' home opener Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena.
Hampton (2-0) used a 10-point run in the second quarter to take control of the game and led 45-26 at halftime. The Pirates, who were coming off a 64-61 win over Alabama, were led by Makayla Timmons with 26 points and Laren VanArsdale with 25.
"Give (Hampton) credit, they shot the mess out of the ball," UTC coach Katie Burrows said. "They took nine more shots than we did, and they made a whole heck of a lot more. But the thing is we didn't make them do something different."
The Mocs were able to hang with the speedy Pirates early thanks to baskets inside by sophomores Abbey Cornelius and Eboni Williams, who scored 14 of UTC's 16 points in the first quarter to keep the margin within five.
"My teammates were getting me the ball when I was open," said Cornelius, who finished with a career-high 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor. "We knew that would be open in their zone, and they did a great job of getting it to me.
"We had a lot of good looks - we just weren't knocking it down."
A Williams free throw with 8:11 to play in the first half pulled UTC within 23-19, but Timmons scored the game's next 10 points. The Mocs shot just 7-for-31 in the second and third quarters and never got closer than 11 points the rest of the game.
"When we came out today, I just don't think we had that fire in us," Burrows said. "Not from the get-go, and that's kind of frustrating because I thought we were very efficient in the shoot-around."
Cornelius also pulled down seven rebounds. Wiliams added 12 points for the Mocs, who shot just 31% from the field and were 6-of-26 from 3-point range. Besides Cornelius, the Mocs were just 8-of-43 shooting.
"Abbey put it together today," Burrows said. "It's so sad because she had a career high today, but we can't really even celebrate. I can't say enough about what she did."
Saturday's game did give fans their first look at 6-foot-3 Central Florida transfer Ruona Uwusiaba, who was ruled immediately eligible just prior to Saturday's game. The Nigeria-born post player was 0-for-3 shooting but made four of her six free throws and had three rebounds in 11 minutes of playing time.
"She had grit, and she had fight," Burrows said. "She was getting in there and banging around for boards. She really had some good looks even in the first half from that high post. She just has to learn how to finish, and I think her jitters may have gotten the better of her."
The Mocs will have to make adjustments quickly as they prepare for a tough week with a visit to Liberty on Monday and a home game Thursday against Purdue out of the Big Ten.
"We have to take this game as a learning experience," said senior guard Lakelyn Bouldin, who was held to eight points and had seven rebounds after scoring 21 points in the Mocs' season opener at Belmont. "The biggest thing is we just have to make some shots and play some defense."
Contact Jim Tanner at JFTanner@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JFTanner.