For the second straight year the Lady Bucs walked into Stetson’s Edmunds Center and walked out with a huge sigh of relief.Junior point guard Tara Davis scored a career-high 23 points and senior Siarre Evans tallied her 14th double-double of the year – finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds – as the Lady Bucs held off a scrappy Stetson club, 57-55, on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, ETSU improved to 14-8, 12-2 in the A-Sun, while Stetson dropped to 5-19, 5-10.

“Like coaches always say life on the road is tough, and anytime you can get a win away from home is key,” said coach Karen Kemp, whose Lady Bucs have won by a combined three points in their last two trips to Stetson.

“We came out and started the game like we were supposed to, but once they hit a couple of shots it seemed our defense kind of let up,” Kemp said.

“Tara and Siarre were big for us tonight. Tara is a great off-the-ball defender and she had a few picks that really gave us momentum in the second half. Again, she was our spark and knocked down some big shots for us,” she said.

Both teams got off to a sluggish start to begin the first 4 minutes, 14 seconds of the game, as the clubs combined to go 1-for-13 from the field; however two free throws by Tarita Gordon (Wichita, Kan.) and an Evans lay-up put the Lady Bucs ahead, 4-0 at the 15:46 mark.

From there Evans and Davis gave ETSU a lift, as they combined to score 12 of the Lady Bucs’ first 14 points and the Blue and Gold led by seven with 10:12 showing on the clock.

However, ETSU’s offense became stagnant as the Lady Bucs turned the ball over four times and only scored five points over the next 6 minutes, 11 seconds – leading to Stetson taking a 23-19 when Tierra Brown laid one in with 3:51 left before intermission.

Despite holding the Hatters scoreless for the final three and a half minutes, ETSU still trailed by two at the break, 23-21.

The Lady Bucs shot a frigid 28.6 percent (8-28) from the field and were 3-of-9 from behind the arc, compared to Stetson going 9-for-30 (30 percent) and 2-of-8 from 3-point land. ETSU outrebounded the Hatters 22-18; however, the Lady Bucs turned the ball over 12 times in the opening 20 minutes.

ETSU came out with some intensity to start the second half, as ETSU scored the first six points and regained a 27-23 lead after TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) sank jumper at the 17:39 mark.

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