Led by B. J, Banjo’s 36 total points over the weekend, the Lady Bucs opened the season splitting their first two games.
First the Lady Bucs were victorious against the Ladies of Tennessee Tech, 81-77, before falling to Tennessee State, 62-56.
The win over Tennessee Tech is only the second time the Lady Bucs have defeated them since the 1999.
In the first game of the season, the Lady Bucs were led by B. J. Banjo’s career high 25 point performance including going 14-of-15 from the free-throw line to secure the Lady Bucs a win against Tennessee Tech.
Also leading the Bucs was Tiffani Mayes who scored 22 points and was 9-of-16 in field goal shooting. All of the Lady Bucs’ starters ended up finishing the game in double digits.
Tech kept the game close with the leadership of Emily Christian’s 28-point performance.
Christian pulled down seven rebounds and got four steals. Kendall Cavin also helped lead the team opening her sophomore season with a career-high 19 points and nine assists.
At halftime the Bucs had a 42-39 lead after midway through the first half Brooke Wilhoit took the ball across court for an unassisted lay up to give the Lady Bucs the edge.
After halftime, the Bucs continued to grow their lead to 56-51 when Tennessee Tech was able to hit back to back threes giving their first lead of the half and forcing a Lady Bucs’ time out to regroup.
After the timeout the two teams were still tied until the Lady Bucs hit back to back inside shots to take a 66-62 advantage with 4:37 left.
The Bucs never looked back after that. Even though the Golden Eagles did get close, the Bucs increased their lead all the way to 72-66 before closing out the game at the free-throw line.
The Lady Bucs played against another Ohio Valley Conference member on Saturday, only this time with a different outcome in the Lady Bucs’ second game of the opening weekend double header. In Saturday night’s game, the Lady Bucs lost to Tennessee State, 62-56, behind the lead of Holly Moring’s 12 points.
The Lady Bucs only hit 43 percent from the free-throw line while the Lady Tigers shot 69 percent.

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