The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team dropped an 88-70 decision to Belmont Tuesday in the season opener for both teams at McKenzie Arena.
The Bruins - ranked fourth with a first-place vote in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 - never trailed and used a hot-shooting first half (9 of 16 from 3-point range and 9 of 16 from 2-point range) to build as much as a 21-point lead in the second quarter, but the Mocs made a run in the second half, using a 13-2 spurt to cut the lead to 68-62 with 8:52 to play. It appeared the Mocs, who played only six players for the majority of the half, ran out of gas at that point, with the Bruins outscoring UTC 20-8 the rest of the way.
"They battled and that's what I liked the most," UTC head coach Katie Burrows said. "There were times in the past where we would have folded in those situations and just kind of conceded and it could have gotten out of hand, but I don't think they did that."
The Mocs were led by 16 points from Abbey Cornelius and Brooke Hampel. Cornelius added nine rebounds and Hampel six. Sigrun Olafsdottir had 11 points and Dena Jarrells had nine points and eight assists, but six of the Mocs' 15 turnovers.
Of the nine players that played for UTC on Tuesday, five were freshmen. Olafsdottir and Karsen Murphy got a year of experience during the COVID-19 season of 2020-21, but guards Addie Porter and Destiny McClendon, and forward Leah Jones were getting their first career minutes. Jones was the most productive, getting seven points and five rebounds with most of her damage coming in the first half. Porter and McClendon each had two points, while Murphy, who transferred from Montana, had six points and four rebounds in 27 minutes.
Eboni Williams, a two-time All-Southern Conference selection, did not play and is out the next few weeks, with Burrows stating that "we will reassess in December."
UTC travels to face Tennessee Tech Saturday at 8.