The Belmont women’s basketball team fell short in their home opener with an 84-54 loss to the Lady Mocs from UT Chattanooga at the Curb Event Center Wednesday night.
Coming off their first win of the season on the road against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, the Bruins knew they had a challenge ahead of them against a Mocs that had defeated the ranked Tennessee Lady Vols the week before.
The Bruins never held a lead in the game where the Mocs held a 14-point lead and never looked back.
Coach Brittany Ezell said the game was a vital learning experience for her players. She said she knows they are a young team and games like these are important steps for future success.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on before the OVC season,” Ezell said. “Non-conference games are for that, to try to figure out what we need to get better at.”
Senior post Alyssa Visbeen was the night’s leading scorer with 15 points.
Visbeen, who said she was just ready to finally play at home, thought her team learned an important lesson from the game.
“I think that we learned that we need to come out ready to play every game,” Visbeen said. “Everybody’s got to be part of the game, and everyone’s got to participate because we need everyone on the team, cause not one person is going to win it for us.”
That team mentality was present as five different players scored more than 10 points each on the night. Senior Katie Brooks had 14 points, while Molly Ernst scored 12, Frankie Joubran had 11 and Jordan Coleman scored 10.
“The kids need to understand you can’t have a lot of success until you understand what failure feels like,” Ezell said. “You want to get that taste in your mouth and you have to be willing to work and be willing to watch the tape and learn.”
The Bruins fell to 1-2 with the loss. They will go on the road to face the Georgia Lady Bulldogs Saturday night in Athens, Ga.