Junior forward Megan Jackson knocked down a jumper with 2:07 left in the second half that gave East Tennessee State a lead that they would not relinquish on the way to a 90-84 Lady Buc victory.
Western Carolina (7-9, 1-6 SoCon) led 43-41 after an exciting back and forth first half.
There were three ties and nine lead changes in the first stanza, with the largest lead coming when Western Carolina took a 41-35 lead with 2:48 remaining.
The Lady Catamounts were hot from the field in the first half, shooting a torrid 55 percent (16-29) while ETSU (3-13, 3-4 SoCon) shot 40 percent.
Western Carolina led for most of the second half, holding a game high nine-point lead on four different occasions during the stanza.
The Lady Catamounts led 79-73 with 4:04 remaining in the game when the Lady Bucs caught fire.
ETSU went on a 17-5 run over the rest of the half to put the game out of reach.
Jackson had a career game for the Lady Bucs in double-digits, with junior guard Erin Thurman scoring 13 points, sophomore guard Samantha Copeland also contributing 13 and senior guard Chris Forman netting 12.
The Lady Bucs also played well in the paint, outrebounding the larger Lady Catamount team 46-36 for the game.
“Fortunately we had our inside and our outside game working tonight,” Women’s Head Coach Karen Kemp said. “In this league you need to have both, you can not depend on one and expect to win.”
Western Carolina was led by center Laura Echols’ 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Echols reached the 1,000 career point milestone with a layup at the 10:36 mark of the second half.
Christy Balckewell (19), Tiffany Hamm (16) and April Fleck (12) also scored in double-digits for the Lady Catamounts.
This was the third time that the Lady Bucs have scored 80 or more points in a game this season.
ETSU has won all three.
Going back to the 1998-99 season, ETSU has gone 18-1 when reaching the 80 point plataeu.
This was also the first time this season that the Lady Bucs have won a game that they trailed at the half.
The Lady Bucs return to action Saturday, Jan. 20 at 3 p.m. as they travel to Fleming Gym in Greensboro, N.C., to Face the UNC Greensboro Spartans.

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