Chattanooga women’s basketball standout Jada Guinn has continued to make her case for Player of the Year discussions after the star grad student took home her third Southern Conference Player of the Week award, as announced by the league office on Tuesday.
Having won the award twice before on November 28 and December 12, Guinn now becomes the first Moc since Jasmine Joyner in 2016-17 to have captured a SoCon Player of the Week award three times within the same season. Guinn is now up to a total of four total POTW awards this year, having earned her three from the Southern Conference and one TSWA Player of the Week honor back in December.
One of the top players in the Southern Conference and mid-major basketball in general, Guinn put together what was arguably her most impressive week of the season to date in UTC’s recent games against the likes of UNCG and Western Carolina.
Over the two games, both of which Chattanooga won on the road, Guinn averaged 24.0 points/game on 21-for-32 shooting (.656) from the floor alongside averaging 3.0 rebounds/game, 2.5 steals/game, 2.0 assists/game and 0.5 blocks/game.
To start the week off, Guinn entered a UNC Greensboro gymnasium in which the Spartans had yet to lose in all season and proceeded to drop 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting (.583) while grabbing four rebounds, three assists and a steal enroute to a UTC win. In that game, Guinn also made just her ninth career three-pointer, while also going a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
Guinn then followed up this performance with arguably the best game of her career at Western Carolina, with Guinn going off with a career-high 30 points while shooting a blazing-hot 14-for-20 (.700) from the floor to help the Mocs stay unbeaten in conference play. Outside of her career-high in scoring, Guinn also matched her season-high in steals by swiping a total of four away from the Catamounts. She had an additional two rebounds, one assist and one block in the game.
This not only marked the most points scored by a UTC player this season, but also marked the first time a Moc had scored 30+ points in a game for the team since December 21, 2020. Her 30-point outing is just the third 30-point game scored by a SoCon player this season. Guinn’s unbelievable offensive production has seen her score in double-digits in all 20 games for the Mocs this season, along with scoring 20+ seven times, all seven of which resulted in wins by Chattanooga.
The Oak Ridge, Tennessee, native is currently ranked second in the SoCon in scoring (18.9 points/game), second in field goal percentage (.510), third in free throw percentage (.762), ninth in assists (2.5/game), 13th in rebounding (6.1/game) and 18th in steals (1.1/game). When only taking into consideration conference games, Guinn is averaging 21.8 points/game on 55.7 percent shooting from the floor and 87 percent shooting from the free throw line. Guinn is also averaging 2.0 steals/game in league play this season.
What’s most impressive about Guinn’s 377 total points scored this season, which ranks 31st in the nation, is that only 12 of those points have come from three-point range. Across the entire NCAA, Guinn currently ranks Top 50 in the country in field goals made (26th) and points/game (38th). Guinn has already surpassed her previous single-season high for scoring, which was 352 last year while she was with Tennessee Tech.
Behind Guinn, the Mocs hold a 17-3 record on the year and are currently riding a multitude of winning streaks that include the following:
- Six consecutive wins
- Undefeated record in 2024 calendar year
- Undefeated (5-0) in SoCon play: best start to a SoCon season since 2016-17
- Undefeated (6-0) in true road games this season: best start on the road since 1999-2000
- Eight consecutive home wins: longest home win streak since 2015-16
Guinn and the rest of the Mocs team return to action this week with a pair of home games in McKenzie Arena, starting first on Thursday, February 1 when UTC plays host to Wofford at 7 p.m. ET. The Mocs will then welcome Furman to the Roundhouse on Saturday, February 3 at 2 p.m. ET for the team’s official 50th Season celebration and reunion. Both games will be available on ESPN+ with radio broadcasts available on WFLI and the Varsity Network app.