Junior Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.) was one of four Lady Buccaneer players to score in double figures as she poured in a game-high 24 points, and the ETSU women’s basketball team used a strong second half to defeat the University of the Cumberlands, 82-67, in an exhibition contest Monday night inside Memorial Center.
Joining Evans in double figures were fellow juniors TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) and Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) and sophomore point guard Tara Davis (Murfreesboro, Tenn.). Belcher posted a double-double, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds and dished out a team-best four assists. Wiles ended with 14, while Davis chipped in with 13 points and forced eight of the 18 Lady Buccaneer steals.
“I wasn’t expecting to play Siarre 32 minutes, but we needed her competiveness and leadership out on the floor,” commented head coach Karen Kemp.
The final half saw the Lady Buccaneers pour in 46 points, force 19 turnovers (resulting in 23 points), and outrebound the Patriots by four, 23-19, including 10 on the offensive end.
After trailing by three to start the second half, the Lady Bucs stormed out the gates by rattling off 10 of the first 12 points to gain a 46-41 lead, forcing Cumberlands to call a timeout with 17:20 left in the contest.
Ferocious defense by the Lady Bucs continued to cause havoc for the Patriots and ETSU used another run to push its lead to 22, 69-47, when Evans connected on a fast break lay-up with eight and half minutes to play.
“I felt like in the second half we stepped the defense up, and I was really pleased with our press since we really haven’t spent much time working on it in practice,” said Kemp. “Exhibition games are exhibition games for a reason, and now we know what we need to work on before we head to Evansville.”
For the game ETSU shot 40.3 percent from the floor (26-67). The Lady Buccaneers forced 31 turnovers and turned the miscues into 34 points, and 18 of ETSU’s 40 rebounds came on the offensive end – resulting in 16 second chance points.
Free-throw shooting was critical for the home team tonight, as ETSU shot 24-of-30 (80 percent) from the charity stripe, where as, Cumberland was 10-for-12 (83.3 percent).
After hitting seven three pointers in its season opener Friday night at Trevecca Nazarene, Cumberlands drained eight in the first 20 minutes, while limiting the Lady Buccaneers to a mere 2-of-6 from beyond the arc. Despite only being held to three second-half points, Flowers led the Cumberlands with 21 (6-of-11 from beyond the arc), and Lauren Wombles added 20 points and nine rebounds in the losing effort.
The Lady Bucs return to action on Saturday, Nov. 15 when they face 2008 Missouri Valley Conference co-regular season champions, Evansville, in their season-opener.

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