The ETSU Lady Bucs celebrated senior night and tried to send their seniors off in style before hitting the road to finish out the season. They hosted the Jacksonville Dolphins on Monday night inside the MSHA/ETSU Athletic Complex.
ETSU was coming off of victory over North Florida on Saturday afternoon, but suffered a big loss when freshman Destiny Mitchell went down with a knee injury during the game.
Despite being down at halftime the Lady Bucs were able to come back and beat JU, 75-65.
“Our seniors were not going to be denied,” said ETSU head coach Karen Kemp.
ETSU started the game out slow and after taking the initial lead the Lady Bucs were overcome by the Dolphins. Both teams struggled to score keeping the game tight but as the half progressed JU was able to started to stretch out the lead over the Lady Bucs.
In the closing minutes of the first half ETSU looked to close the deficit but a late JU charge gave the Dolphins the 14 point 44-30 lead going into the half.
“Just a little lack of focus in the first half got us in trouble,” said senior Tara Davis.
The Lady Bucs came out strong at the start of the second half and cut the lead to 10, but faltered allowing the Dolphins to extend their lead back out to 13. A tough ETSU defense stopped the Dolphins from running away with the game and half way through the second half the Lady Bucs had cut the lead to six. Both teams traded lay-ups but the Lady Bucs broke through the JU defense and went on a 17-1 run taking the lead for the first time in second half.
ETSU didn’t give the lead back as they continued to stretch the lead finishing the game up by 10 for a 75-65 final, ETSU.
“Going into half down by 14 made the win that much better to end on,” said Latisha Belcher’ “We gave the crowd a show and won the game.”
Shawn Randall led ETSU with a career-high 24 points. Seniors Tara Davis and Latisha Belcher both scored 12, with Belcher grabbing 10 rebounds for her tenth double-double and almost got a triple-double with seven steals.
Natalie Pickwell finished their home stand strong with 13 points coming off of a career 24-point game against North Florida.
ETSU hits the road to try and clinch the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
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