CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga women's basketball team did its best David v. Goliath impression at the Roundhouse on Sunday afternoon, as the Mocs pulled off the Power 5 upset over No. 21 Mississippi State by a score of 59-53 to extend the team's winning streak to six straight as non-conference action wages on.
It was all hands on deck for the Mocs (8-1, 0-0 SoCon) as the team powered back from an 11-point deficit to the mighty Bulldogs (8-2, 0-0 SEC) to earn the team's sixth-ever victory over a ranked opponent and first since 2014 in front of an enthused home crowd in McKenzie Arena.
"So proud of our kids. They've put so much work in. It's fun watching them just slowly get better and believe a little bit more and a little bit more," head coach Shawn Poppie said. "Obviously, that's a really, really good Mississippi State team. I know they're battling some injuries. Some sickness, possibly. But it's a really good basketball team. It's gonna win a lot of games."
"I thought we executed very, very well in the sense of a game plan. You know, we kind of got to halftime, I thought we let them go on a handful of runs that were some things that I thought we could control. We get into the second half. I thought we played much, much better, but it started with Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson. I thought they were a lot more aggressive in the second half. But a lot of different things that could go on in the sense of proud of individual efforts, but ultimately, I thought we were a really good team - basketball team - today."
To open the game, the Mocs were able to hang tight with the No. 21 team in the country out of the gates, swapping early leads in the first. Mississippi State started to get their feet underneath them on the back of leading scorer Jerkaila Jordan, helping the Bulldogs end the quarter up 16-11.
Momentum continued to swing back and forth between the two teams in the second quarter of action, as Mississippi State would build up as much of a lead as nine points while the Mocs would cut it down to as close as two. Continuing to lean on Jordan along with the team's size and rebounding down low in the post, MSU took a 32-26 advantage into the halftime break.
While UTC was down, but they were not out of this one thanks in large part to the play of freshmen Hannah Kohn and Caia Elisaldez in the opening 20 minutes. The duo's three-point shooting and playmaking ability kept the door open for the Mocs after a slow start from Chattanooga's starters in terms of scoring the ball.
To open the third quarter, Mississippi State looked to put the Mocs away right from the jump as the Bulldogs would build up their largest lead of the day with 6:50 remaining in the third, leading the Mocs 41-30. From here, though, UTC's core of Jada Guinn, Raven Thompson and Addie Grace Porter turned up the heat on the 21st-best team in the nation.
Chipping away bucket by bucket, the Mocs would close out the latter half of the third quarter by going on a 14-4 scoring run, putting UTC just one point shy of Mississippi State as the third quarter buzzer sounded. Only the fourth quarter stood in the Mocs' way as they trailed 45-44 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
It wouldn't be long into the fourth quarter that Chattanooga would take its first lead since the 7:52 mark of the first quarter, as reigning SoCon Player of the Week Jada Guinn connected on the go-ahead bucket for the Mocs with 8:34 left to play. After the lead shuffled hands between UTC and MSU a little bit, things were ultimately knotted up at 48-48 with the clock down to just 5:43 remaining.
In the biggest moment of her young career so far, freshman Hannah Kohn delivered for the Mocs when they needed her most as the sharpshooter connected a three-pointer from way beyond the line to give UTC the lead, 51-48. The Mocs would not lose the lead for the remainder of the game.
Even with the Bulldogs having a handful of responses, Kohn's three gave the UTC team the exact spark it needed to close out the upset. Some clutch free throws down the stretch by Addie Grace Porter were the final nail in the coffin for Mississippi State. The final horn sounded the UTC bench and McKenzie Arena erupted as the Mocs toppled the No. 21 Bulldogs, 59-53.
Both Guinn and Thompson led the way for Chattanooga in the scoring column with each scoring 14. Porter would finish as the team's leading rebounder with nine, as well as ending with a team-best four assists. Kohn contributed 12 points off the bench for the Mocs, all coming from behind the three-point line.
Defensively, it was Karsen Murphy who shined the brightest for the Mocs as the junior chalked up a team-high and season-high three blocks in the ranked victory. UTC would win the turnover battle with the Bulldogs, 18-11, while out-scoring MSU in points off turnovers (19-12), points in the paint (24-20) and points off the bench (18-9).
FROM THE HEAD COACH | QUOTES
On the fan support – attendance: 2,170
"The fans, thank you so much for coming out. You could feel it, you could hear it and I thought it played a big, big part to kind of carry us over into getting a victory there versus, again, a really good Mississippi State team."
On the game plan for Mississippi State.
"It was a big time personnel scout. They have a couple that can really, really shoot it. Zero [0] is a really good shooter. 21 can really really shoot it. From then everybody else we really try to get in really strong gaps and force as many contested jump shots as we could. The other piece is, is the amount of possessions. I thought we played at a tempo that we could survive. There's been a couple games this year they played in 77 possessions and they took 46 shots and only 12 free throws. So the possession game allowed us to be able to play in a half court because that's the other piece. I think they play a lot in transition. We made it a half court game and I thought if we did that we would have a chance."
On Mississippi State missing some starters.
"It's interesting because for their sake, they're playing down a couple kids, but for us we don't know if they're coming back today or not. So we had a game plan if they were back then we had another game plan if they weren't. 24 was back today. She did not play against Miami so that gave them another big. I felt like if they were not they would still be pretty small, which for us, when we saw they go small lineups they switched a lot. So for us it was trying to get into the switching. Throw the ball to Raven [Thompson] and then play off of Raven, because it was similar size. When the Bigs were with them, they don't switch as much so we're going to try to run different actions. I thought early on we were very hesitant when we tried to get the ball to the right places, almost like running the spots instead of running the bodies and then playing and then worrying about maybe their athleticism trying to get foul calls instead of just being basketball players. I thought the adjustment in the second half wasn't as much of what we ran. It would just tighter right more confident. And but yes, there was an emphasis to try to get it in there and play out of Raven in the post and then spread it out and try to get Jada [Guinn] into some ball screens where they would switch for somebody that we thought we had an advantage."
TOP TAKEAWAYS | NOTES
- First career ranked win for Coach Shawn Poppie.
- Sixth ranked win for the Mocs in program history.
- Last ranked win came December 17, 2014 in a 54-46 victory over #7 Stanford.
- The Mocs also defeated #4 Tennessee in 2014 that same season.
- The last Power 5 win for the Mocs was on December 20, 2017 when UTC took down SEC foe Florida, 65-60.
- All-time series between the Mocs and the Bulldogs now moves to 4-3 in favor of Mississippi State.
- Mississippi State had won their past three matchups with the Mocs.
- The last UTC win over Mississippi State came on December 17, 1985 in a 62-54 Chattanooga victory in Starkville.
- Chattanooga has now won six games in a row, the team's longest win streak since the team won six straight back in the 2017-18 season.
- The last time Chattanooga started 8-1 or better in their first seven games? The 2012-13 season in which UTC started the year 9-1.
- UTC has now earned its eighth non-conference win of the 2023-24 season, matching the team's non-conference win total from a season ago.
- Today's game marked the first time that UTC trailed a team at halftime this season.
- The Mocs at one point faced an 11-point deficit to the Bulldogs, marking the largest deficit overcome to win for UTC this season.
- This is only the third time this year that the Mocs have won by single digits.. The other non-10+ point wins for UTC were against Austin Peay (5 points) and Kennesaw State (6 points).
- Jada Guinn has scored 10+ points in all nine games for Chattanooga this season, while Raven Thompson has done so in eight games for Chattanooga.
- Guinn and Thompson have now accounted for 284 of Chattanooga's 599 total points on the year.
- UTC shot 43.8 percent (21-for-48) from the field. The Mocs have shot 40 percent or above from the floor in every game this season.
- The Mocs also shot 47.1 percent (8-for-17) from three-point range today. This is the seventh time this season the team has shot above 40 percent from three. UTC won all seven of those games.
- This is the highest team three-point percentage for UTC this season since shooting 52.6 percent (10-for-19) in the season-opener against King.
- Chattanooga has now finished with a higher three-point percentage than field goal percentage for the third consecutive game, all three of which were wins.
- UTC out-scored the Bulldogs on points off turnovers (19-12), points in the paint (24-20) and bench points (18-9).
- A season-low 11 turnovers for Chattanooga today.
UP NEXT: NORTH ALABAMA
The Mocs will now have nearly a week to rest and recover (and take their finals) before returning to the court on Saturday, December 9 when UTC welcomes North Alabama (2-5, 0-0 ASUN) to the Roundhouse. Chattanooga will be aiming to extend their already six-game long winning streak next weekend, with tipoff between the Mocs and the Lions scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+ or to listen over the radio on WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM.
50 SEASONS OF CHATTANOOGA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The 2023 season for the Chattanooga women's basketball team marks a major landmark for the program and the university, as UTC women's basketball officially celebrates its 50th season of competition as a university sponsored athletic program. Following the adoption of the Title IX legislation back in 1972, UTC added women's basketball, tennis and volleyball programs to its roster of athletic teams, bringing on five decades of history and success for each of the teams. Chattanooga WBB will be putting on multiple promotions and content pieces throughout the 2023-24 season to celebrate the program's history, culminating in the team hosting its 50th Season Celebration and Reunion during the Mocs' February 3 matchup against Furman at McKenzie Arena.
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