It didn’t take long for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Jasmine Joyner to realize Saturday was going to be a good shooting day for her against UT-Martin.
Technically, she knew after about five minutes.
That’s how long it took the 6-foot-3 forward to hit her second 3-pointer. She went on to finish 11-for-19 from the field for a career-high 31 points as the Mocs used a 12-0 third-quarter run to defeat the Lady Skyhawks 61-46 in front of 1,238 fans at McKenzie Arena.
It was the Mocs’ 17th consecutive home victory. To reach 18, they’re going to have to defeat mighty Connecticut on Monday at 6:30.
Joyner, who became the first Moc to score 30 points in a game since Kayla Christopher did it against Furman on Jan. 4, 2011, added 15 rebounds and seven blocks in the win. Her block total tied the school career record of 221 set by Alex Anderson, who played at UTC from 2005 to 2008.
“When we played against Tennessee, we started to figure out who we were. It brought us together,” Joyner said. “I knew I was feeling pretty good after my second 3-pointer. I thought if I stopped shooting or if I wasn’t on, I knew I could get rebounds or help the team in other places.”
She said that after being a liability on the perimeter a season ago in the NCAA tournament loss to Pittsburgh, she decided to work on her outside game. That, plus her experience trying out for the U.S. Women’s National Team this past spring, showed her she needed to evolve her game.
“This season I worked hard on it,” she said. “I know teams are going to back off on me. I try not to fall too much in love with it, but if it’s open I’m going to shoot it.”
She was the only Moc scoring in double figures.
UTC jumped out to a 22-14 advantage after a quarter after four 3s – two each by Joyner and Aryanna Gilbert – and led by 10 early in the second quarter, but the Lady Skyhawks (3-5) trimmed the gap to 26-24 by switching to a zone defense in an attempt to slow down the Mocs’ pace.
“We were patient,” UTC coach Jim Foster said. “A lot of times, teams try to go zone to see if you’ll take quick shots or will be patient. We were very patient and started to get into some gaps. By doing that, we got some high-percentage shots.”
The Mocs led by five at the break. UT-Martin scored the first four points of the third quarter, but the home team responded by scoring 12 points – eight in the paint – to build a 47-34 lead after three quarters.
UT-Martin never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
The visitors were led by DaiJia Ruffin’s 17 points. Haley Howard added 10, but the Mocs dominated the boards, outrebounding UT-Martin 35-20, with 12 offensive rebounds – to the dismay of coach Kevin McMillan.
The Lady Skyhawks, who dressed only eight players and played seven, were competitive in losses to 23rd-ranked Iowa, Arkansas State and Illinois.
“In the second half, we came out and just quit,” he said. ‘We didn’t play hard. We missed four straight wide-open shots to start the half. We asked them to do certain things on defense, and we didn’t do them. I can take getting beat, but that way? We laid down. It’s very reminiscent of the three quarters against Illinois; it’s very similar to that.
“I guess as a team we’ll use the excuse that we had only seven or eight players, but we got destroyed on the glass. If we’re not going to be coachable we’re going to get beat badly, and that’s what happened to us in this ballgame.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at @genehenleytfp.