The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball game against Wofford on Saturday can be summed up by a span of one minute and 55 seconds in the first quarter.
First, UTC's Queen Alford stole a pass. Then, on back-to-back possessions Sydney Vanlandingham hit 3-pointers. Her second was followed by a Terriers shot blocked by Jasmine Joyner.
Yes, the Mocs shot, stole and blocked their way to a Southern Conference victory. They coasted to a 65-48 win over the Terriers in front of 2,452 fans at McKenzie Arena.
UTC (16-7, 7-2) blocked 14 shots, which set a new standard for the program. The Mocs also made 14 steals and eight 3-point shots, both of which were season highs.
The 3-point efficiency - UTC was 8-for-15, 53.3 percent - was another season high. In both of Vanlandingham's shots, she was wide open as the Terriers were willing to concede the 3-pointer to a team that had averaged 28 percent for the season.
"It caught me off guard," Vanlandingham said. "I expected there to be someone on me when I caught the ball, but when no one was and everybody else (on my team) was covered, I looked at the rim."
UTC will be on the road this week, with SoCon games at UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina.
Alford had a team-high 18 points for the Mocs. Sisters Keiana and Aryanna Gilbert each scored 13 points, while Vanlandingham had 10 - eight in the first half.
When the teams met in Spartanburg, S.C., on Jan. 4, Wofford led the first part of the second half and the score was tied at 30 going into the fourth quarter, but UTC outscored the Terriers 23-10 for a 13-point victory.
"We came in with the mentality of playing hard," Alford said Saturday. "I think maybe the first time we played them we underestimated them, but this time we had the mentality of playing hard and getting better."
The Mocs limited the Terriers to 34 percent shooting from the field. Fourteen of their 31 missed shots never made it to the rim.
"You've got to guard people," UTC coach Jim Foster said. "If you guard people, the game can't get away from you. We didn't hit shots early against Furman, but we started to guard and then we started to figure some things out.
"Shots are the least attractive thing to hang on to, because they come and go, but if you defend and move the ball on a regular basis, you can fix yourself through the course of a game, but if you live and die through shooting and putting the ball in the basket, then what are you going to turn to when you're not?
"We're good at guarding people, we're good at not fouling, we're good at defending the 3-point line. Jaz (Joyner) didn't have a big game, but others picked up the slack."
The Mocs jumped to a 20-9 lead after a quarter, shooting 64 percent from the field. Their lead never dipped below double figures after an Aryanna Gilbert layup made it 22-11 with 8:04 to play in the second period.
The 3s continued to fall throughout the game for UTC. Alford made a career-high three, while Vanlandingham's two were her UTC career high. She hit four as a freshman at UT-Martin against Tennessee Tech.
Kentra Washington led the Terriers (7-16, 1-8) with 18 points. She was the only Wofford player in double figures.
Wofford coach Edgar Farmer was pleased by his team's sustained effort, as the Terriers were outscored by only two points in each of the final three quarters.
"I thought Chattanooga did a good job of studying us," he said. "They came out with a great blast, but I'm proud of my team. We understand we have to put four quarters together, but I thought our team responded well after the first quarter.
"They shot as well from 3 as they had all year, so I'll take my chances as to how we went about the blueprint. They knocked shots down early that gave them confidence throughout."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.