Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga 64, Kent State 54
Daytona Beach, Fla. | Ocean Center
Daytona Beach Tournament
Friday, November 24, 2023
 
HEAD COACH SHAWN POPPIE
 
On the team's performance
"They're a good basketball team. We knew that the pressure was coming. We got a little tired. We still had a couple of stretches, but we didn't have as many, I thought, tonight. Just some really big time performances. I'll tell you what, Jada Guinn was really phenomenal. Raven Thompson fighting there. Her knees bothering her a little bit. There was that 40 hour bus trip we took. Addie Grace Porter. I'm gonna tell you what, that kid is a warrior. That's a fun win."
 
On playing with a smaller team and what is needed to get the win
"This is what you learn about it. We learn about who we are and it's been a competitive spirit. That's what we've talked about since we left UVA Wise. I didn't think we had a competitive spirit. What happens when you have a competitive spirit is when things don't go your way, you don't have a 'whoa is me' attitude. When Coach Poppie is 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 and we'll love on you when we get out of here. That spirit then keeps you out of your lows, in my opinion. We're gonna have to have it because we're not big. We know that. We know we're not big but we're skilled. We out-rebounded them tonight 41-33 and do we have anyone over six-foot out there? That's who we've got to become. We've got to be gritty. We've got to be tough. And then we just keep developing as a basketball team when it comes to skill and coaches putting them in the right position to be successful."

Jada Guinn, Gr., G
 
On what she was seeing tonight in her career-high 26-point night.
"I think I just started off where on my first couple of shots, you just kind of see the ball go in and you build confidence from there. Coach Poppie and the team, they were trusting in me and they started running plays for me, and luckily they were just going in for me."

On bouncing back from the team's slow start.
"Going in, we knew that our defense fuels our offense. That first quarter, we weren't getting stops. Then we went on that 13-0 run and that was built entirely on our defense. We were just trying to get those stops, and that gave us more momentum on the offensive end."

On getting ready to play right away again tomorrow.
"Having back-to-back games, that's gonna prepare us for the tournament. In the tournament, you win and you play the next day, so we're just going to take this as an opportunity to help us prepare for that in the future."

Raven Thompson, So., F
 
On the team's performance tonight in the win over Kent State.
"We had an emphasis in our scouting when it came to rebounding, so we knew they would crash the boards hard and we had to limit them to one chance. I felt like everybody just played hard and together tonight. We got a gritty win."

On her 20-point, 12-rebound performance tonight.
"I just knew my teammates needed me to be the best version of myself and that's what I tried to do tonight."

On the team rallying around each other despite some people getting banged up and others getting with foul trouble.
"We just stayed ready and always picked up our teammates when they went down. When somebody gets scored on, when they got injured or needed to go out because of fouls, we were just there to pick them back up."