There's a confidence that has to exist for a smaller athlete to be successful in basketball, which will always be considered a big person's sport.
At 5-foot-7, Dena Jarrells is no exception, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore point guard's belief in herself stems in part from growing up in Dunlow, West Virginia - which in 2020 had a population of 1,004 and isn't exactly a hotbed for women's basketball talent. Jarrells was so small growing up that her parents had her repeat eighth grade because they feared something might be wrong with her.
"People from where I live, they don't go to college. They stay there; nobody leaves," Jarrells said. "I felt like I had to be able to have that confidence to get out of my small town in order to show people that you don't have to stay in West Virginia and spend the rest of your life there. You can take a sport and use it to your advantage.
"I was brought up and raised to not depend on a man; I know people might look at that in a weird way, but my parents raised me to make something of myself, so that way I can provide for my family as well. I use basketball that way, and I think I'm at the age now where that confidence I have, I use it on the court, but I also know I can always move that on and provide it with my kids as well, to say, 'Look at what I did.' Even though I'm starting them off in a better life than I did before, they can still carry that confidence to be a better player or whatever sport they choose to play."
When she was playing AAU basketball in middle school, her coach would put her in the corner offensively because she was too small to pass the ball over the press - something she overcame a year later by just being crafty enough and quick enough to dribble through the defense. UTC coach Katie Burrows noted this week that Jarrells still tries to overdribble at times, and there was some good and some bad in Tuesday's 88-70 season-opening loss against Belmont, which Jarrells finished with nine points and eight assists but also six turnovers.
It's an adjustment, though. Jarrells' scoring is part of the reason she's been able to play without the ball in her hands. She made a combined 46 3-pointers in her first two seasons with the Mocs, and she has topped double figures in scoring nine times in her UTC career.
Having a scorer's mentality has always been a trait of hers - she averaged 26.5 points per game as a freshman in high school, earning her first of four straight all-state first-team selections - and her fearless nature on the court. Sometimes it leads to good plays, at times it can lead to some of those turnovers, but it's just who she's always been.
"If I hit a big shot or something - even if it's not a 3 - I feel like I can get my team going, to bring energy," Jarrells said. "I don't know what that is. I don't feel like I do anything different from anyone else when they make shots, but it's just because I just like that fun. I enjoy playing, I enjoy winning, so if I make a shot, I get excited. I always try to make another play to get that energy and keep it coming, so I feel that kind of introduced me to college a little bit more.
"When I first started (playing for UTC), I was coming off the bench the majority of the time, and I felt that's why Katie would do that, because I could sit back and watch for a few minutes and know what to do when I came in. I could see what was working and what wasn't working for us."
Even with only two full seasons - and just one career start before the opener against Belmont - of college experience, she's now also the oldest player on the team, and therefore she is looked at as a leader of the Mocs, who return to competition when they face Tennessee Tech at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday in Cookeville.
Now players such as freshman point guard Addie Porter, guard Destiny McClendon and forward Karsen Murphy - the latter two are Jarrells' roommates - are leaning on her for advice. That isn't a problem for Jarrells - one of the Mocs' biggest personalities who just happens to be smallish in stature.
"You're getting coaching from a lot of different people, so sometimes it's best to just step away and take a deep breath," she said. "They're just trying to help you, and it helps that I've had that experience.
"I think that it's going to help our team a lot."
Help on the way
On Thursday, the Mocs announced two early signees for their 2022-23 roster, both of them point guards: Brooklyn Crouch from Cookeville and Upperman High School, as well as Anna Blank from Richland County High School in Olney, Illinois. Both were previously committed to the Mocs.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.