CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Chattanooga junior Bria Dial scored a career-high and led four in double figures as the Mocs held off Wofford in an 80-76 Southern Conference women's basketball win Thursday night at the McKenzie Arena.
 
Dial had 23 points, making all seven field goals including a career-best five 3-pointers. Two of her treys came at crucial moments in the fourth quarter. With UTC leading 68-61, Wofford scored the next five to cut the score to 68-66 with 3:05 to play. Dial dished the ball to Eboni Williams and cleared to the other side of the court. Williams hit her in the corner and her shot pushed the Mocs lead to 71-66 with 2:42 on the clock.
 
Wofford, however, responded with a 3-pointer from Da'Ja Green who had 15 points in the effort. Dial, on a feed from NaKeia Burks on the home end of the court, drained her fifth from distance with 1:59 to play to make it 74-69.
 
UTC's pushed its lead to 78-69 with 53 seconds to play with four straight free throws, but the Terriers came back strong. They started with a layup from Cairo Booker with 48 seconds on the clock and forced a turnover 27 seconds later. A pair of UTC fouls, including one of a 3-point try, kept the ball in Wofford's hands.
 
With 12 seconds to play, Green made the first two of her free throws and her miss on the third led to an offensive rebound and 3-pointer from Chloe Wanink, her sixth of the game, to cut it back to a two-point lead for the Mocs at 78-76 with 9.1 seconds to play.
 
Chattanooga had the ball, but another turnover gave it back to Green and the Terriers. She drove the lane for a potential tying layup, but it hit off the right side and into Abbey Cornelius' hands. She was fouled on the rebound and her two free throws with 1.2 seconds to play sealed the win.
 
The Mocs shot 59.6 percent (28-47) from the field and were 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the 3-point line. The difference was at the free throw line where the Mocs doubled the Terrier output making 16-of-20.
 
"When you shoot the ball so well, you put so much more pressure on the other team," Chattanooga head coach Katie Burrows said. "If you can't put it in the hole, it doesn't matter how many stops you get. You have to score more points."
 
Chattanooga got off to a hot start with a 9-0 lead on the Terriers behind five points from Williams who finished with her second double-double of the season. UTC held onto the lead that was as close as one point early in the second quarter to as much as 15 later in the frame.
 
The Mocs went into the half with a 36-31 lead but fell behind for the first time behind a pair of 3-pointers from Chloe Wanink at the start of the second half.
 
That lead would not last long. Williams tied the game at 37-37 with a free throw and Cornelius capped off a 14-2 run over 3:47 to give the Mocs a 50-39 lead with 5:08 to play in the third.
 
Wofford responded, outscoring Chattanooga 15-7 over the next 4:45 and trailed UTC 57-54 with 10 minutes to play.
 
"They made some plays tonight and capitalized on every mistake we made," Burrows said. "Fortunately, we were able to shoot the ball well enough and have a little bit of a buffer."
 
UTC improved to 3-14 overall and 2-1 against the SoCon. The Terriers are 8-10 on the year and 1-2 in league play.
 
Dial's 100 percent effort from the field and beyond the arc matched the second-best output by a UTC player in a single game. Her entered the Mocs' Top 10 for blocked shots with 53 over her career.
 
Williams recorded her sixth career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Cornelius had 16 points, making 5-of-8 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Burks dished out six assists and had 10 points and matched her career-best with seven rebounds.
 
Bouldin was held to seven points but topped 1,300 career points. She added three rebounds and four assists.
 
UTC outrebounded the Terriers 36-24 and edged them in the paint 26-20. Wofford scored 19 points off 14 Chattanooga turnovers and the Mocs had four points on just six Terrier miscues.
 
Wanink was 6-of-9 from the 3-point line for Wofford and led four in double figures. Green played all 40 minutes and was 3-of-8 from range with nine assists. Lilly Hatton and Booker each had 11 points with Hatton leading her team with seven rebounds.
 
The Mocs remain home to host league-leading Furman Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at GoMocs.com and the McKenzie Arena box office.