UTC's KaVonne Towns reaches for a rebound in the game against Villanova Friday at McKenzie Arena.Although she couldn't hear much around her due to the beating of her own heart, Jasmine Joyner knew the magnitude of the two free throws she was about to shoot.
And with the game on the line, she nailed them.
The 6-foot-3 sophomore rounded out the best game of her young University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball career with the pair of clutch shots, and the Mocs held on to defeat Villanova 49-45 in front of 2,290 fans at McKenzie Arena in the first game of the Tip-Off Classic.
The win was the Mocs' 40th consecutive home win -- the longest streak in the nation.
They get their next chance Sunday afternoon at 2 when they face South Florida, which will play Villanova today at 4.
Joyner finished with 16 points and 20 rebounds in 36 minutes of action. Her points were a career high, while the rebound total is the fifth all-time in program history, tying three others -- the last being Regina Kirk, who had the same total against Furman on Feb. 5, 1988.
Joyner is one of several Mocs who are having to assume larger roles with the departure of five seniors from last season's 29-4 team.
"There wasn't a lot of pressure, but I had to step up big time," Joyner said. "In the first half, after six minutes I was out of breath, but I told myself I had to do this: I had to put my big panties on, go out and play. I was the defensive post last year, but this season I had to play a larger role."
Moses Johnson contributed 13 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes, while Keiana Gilbert had six points and a team-high two blocks, including one of a Caroline Coyer shot with 41 seconds to play and the Mocs holding on to a 47-45 lead.
The lead was 39-23 with 12:03 to go in the game, but the Wildcats fought their way back with a 14-1 run that trimmed the lead to 40-37 with 6:41 remaining. The Mocs went 5:53 of game time without a basket, a run that was halted by a Johnson layup with 6:10 to go.
They stretched the margin back out to 47-39 with 4:38 to go, only to see the Wildcats score six points in a row. Different Mocs made plays down the stretch -- the block by the freshman Gilbert, then defensive pressure that led to a Coyer turnover with 4.7 seconds remaining, setting up Joyner's free throws.
"In the first half, Villanova was taking shots we'd liked for them to take, off the bounce," UTC coach Jim Foster said. "When people are taking shots off the bounce, you're playing good defense. When they're taking layups and 3s, you're in trouble. We're a young team that's trying to figure out who the go-to player is going to be.
"Tonight is a good building block, a good start."
Lauren Burford had 19 points to lead Villanova, while Taylor Holeman grabbed 10 rebounds, but the Wildcats shot 34 percent from the floor -- which was slightly better than UTC's 31.6 percent.
Villanova coach Harry Perretta said his team has yet to score 50 points in a game, including a scrimmage against Army in which the Wildcats struggled.
"We're a young team playing a good team on the road, and we have to be able to learn how to play," Perretta said. "UTC's defense is so aggressive. It's so different practicing against it and seeing it. ... Our timing was off.
"I thought we played better in the second half. We were executing and I thought we had enough shots to have a chance to win it, but if you can't get 50 points, you won't win a lot of games. Tonight was a really good game for us to learn how to play."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.