The 14th overall meeting between the Lady Bucs and the College of Charleston Cougars on Saturday went in ETSU’s favor with a score of 82-79.
The well-deserved victory puts ETSU at 9-14 and 4-10 in the Southern Conference.
Charleston dominated the first few minutes of the game and the score would reach 7-9 before Misty Copas tied it with 13:56 left in the first half.
As a hopeful sign of things to come, Copas made the shot that put ETSU in the lead, following an impressive rebound from Candace Gibson.
The game continued back and forth with the teams tied a total of five times in each half. Frustrated fans watched as the lead changed seven times in the first half and the second half, as well.
With 2:01 remaining in the half, sophomore center/forward Jessica Lonon used her rebound to put ETSU back in the lead at 31-27.
Charleston’s Rachel King wasn’t far behind, however, and made another shot for the Cougars. Kiya Verdell, on top of her game with consecutive three-pointers, played strong defense and shut down a pass from one of Charleston’s players.
At the end of the half, ETSU led by six points and Charleston began to get nervous.
That nervousness faded with the Cougars up by seven points, 70-63, late in the second half.
Charleston’s Becky Wollenberg scored 14 points total, which included two three-pointers and Brittney Scarberry had 11 points for the Cougars, including a jumper late in the first half. Center Wilma Simpson led her team with 19 points on 9 of 14 shooting from the field.
Misty Copas scored 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field, Candace Gibson scored 11 and senior forward Megan Jackson scored 10 points.
“We just needed to get out there and relax,” said head coach Karen Kemp.
The win ends a six-game losing streak, all of those games lost by six points or fewer.
The Lady Bucs host Western Carolina at 7 p.m. on Monday night.

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