SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- Bria Dial's buzzer beater at Wofford brought her teammates off the bench and the fans to their feet as Chattanooga came away with a pivotal 51-49 Southern Conference women's basketball victory at Wofford Saturday afternoon.
 
The Terriers hit a layup to take a 49-48 lead with five seconds remaining. The Mocs called timeout to advance the ball and it paid off. Lakelyn Bouldin inbounded the ball to Abbey Cornelius on the right. Cornelius drove to the bucket, but the Terrier defense collapsed on her and, from under the basket, fired the ball to a wide-open Dial in the corner.
 
With the Wofford defender charging, Dial stepped into her shot, ripped the net and held her follow-through as her teammates rushed her.
 
"I told them if we can get an attack, we'll be in good shape," Chattanooga head coach Katie Burrows said. "Bria Dial. I'm gonna kid her 'girl you can't hit a layup but you can stroke a three'."
 
Dial led all scorers with 15 points. Bouldin added 11 points and Cornelius had a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
After trailing 31-18 at the half, the Mocs' defense stepped up and held Wofford to six third quarter points that included just one bucket and outscored the Terriers 20-12 in the fourth.
 
"We just gutted it out, we battled," Burrows said.
 
Bouldin got the scoring started for the Mocs with a 3-pointer followed by a layup from Cornelius to put UTC 5-0. Two quick fouls on Eboni Williams, Dena Jarrells stepped entered the lineup and hit a 3-pointer to give UTC an 8-2 lead, its largest of the game.
 
Wofford fought back, tied the game 10-10 and went on to take a 15-12 lead after the first quarter.
 
The Mocs would be without Bouldin and Williams the entire second quarter after both got in to foul trouble early. UTC shot just 18.2 percent in the period, making 2-of-11, and the Terriers pushed its lead to 13 points.
 
The third quarter started with Bouldin and Williams back on the court and period would belong to Chattanooga. The Mocs started with an 11-0 run their defense stepped up to hold Wofford to just one bucket on 18 tries (6.7%) and six points in the frame. Chattanooga cut the lead to 37-31 with 10 minutes to play.
 
The Mocs got off to a 4-0 start in the fourth to cut the Wofford lead to 37-35 at the 8:08 mark. The Terriers struck back to build the lead to 41-35 with 6:10 to play. With a 7-0 run over the next 1:44, UTC took 42-41 lead with 3:20 remaining.
 
Lilly Hatton drained a 3-pionter for Wofford to retake the lead just 10 seconds later, 44-42, but UTC responded with a layup from NaKeia Burks to tie the game. She was fouled on the drive and made the free throw to put UTC back up 45-44.
 
Wofford came back with a 3-pointer to make it a 47-45 game in favor of the Terriers, but Dial's 3-pointer with 1:34 on the clock put Chattanooga in front for the third time in the quarter.
 
Wofford missed it's next attempt and Dial grabbed the rebound. Her 3-point attempt fell short but she was able to wrangle in the rebound. She fed it out to Bouldin, but her short jumper fell short as well.
 
Wofford got the rebound and after a break in the action, came back out to take a 49-48 lead on a put back by Hatton with five seconds to play.
 
The Mocs called time out to advance the ball and draw up one more play that would end with Dial's 3-pointer at the buzzer and the win.
 
UTC was 19-of-59 (38%) for the game and 7-of-20 from the 3-point line while making 6-of-9 from the free throw line. The Mocs outrebounded the Terriers 35-32 and outscored them 20-14 in the paint. UTC gave up 18 points on 21 turnovers, scoring eight on nine Wofford mistakes.
 
The Terriers, without Chloe Wanink and Jamari McDavid due to injury, were 17-of-61 (27.9%) for the game from the field. They matched the Mocs from distance and were 8-of-10 on free throws. Niyah Lutz led Wofford with 13 points. Lauren Cook, Cairo Booker and De'Ja Green each added seven points and Hatton had a team-best six rebounds.
 
Bouldin and Dial each had three 3-pointers and Burks added nine points in the wining effort. Williams had five points, seven boards and a team-best three assists.
 
Chattanooga (8-17) improves to 7-4 and tied with Wofford (14-12) in the SoCon standings, half a game behind UNCG and Samford (7-3).
 
The Mocs return home for their final three games beginning Thursday against Mercer on Cancer Awareness Night. The first 300 fans will receive t-shirts representing the fight against all cancers. The game is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the McKenzie Arena box office or online at GoMocs.com.