After its loss to the nationally ranked Mocs on Monday, the Lady Bucs basketball team beat Western Carolina in Cullowhee, North Carolina, 63-60 on Saturday night to move to 15-8 overall and 7-1 in the Southern Conference.
Coach Brittney Ezell went into the game with a positive mindset.
“We haven’t deviated from our normal routine of preparation. We stay focused on the next game regardless of the previous game’s result. We have to improve and move on,” Ezell said. “We have watched film, tried to learn from our mistakes and worked hard in practice to improve as a unit. Playing at Western Carolina is a difficult task and we will need to compete at a high level to get back on track.”
The team played hard and stayed close to the Catamounts throughout the whole game, with the score 31-28 at halftime.
As the second half progressed, WCU fought hard early on and the teams went back and forth until Serena Clark capitalized on a turnover and gave the Bucs the lead.
Later on, WCU stayed neck-and-neck until the last few minutes where they pulled ahead by 1 point. Freshman point guard Tianna Turner had four opportunities to convert from the free throw line and she used all of them to give ETSU the lead and the win.
The lead scorer for the Bucs was Shamauria Bridges with 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Serena Clark added a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Freshman Tiana Tarter sealed the game with four late free throws to put the Lady Bucs ahead at the end. Maria Bond also scored 10 points.
Western Carolina was led in scoring by Justin Taylor, who had 22 points and 4 rebounds. Ace Easter and Lindsay Simpson both added 11 for the Catamounts.
The Lady Bucs struggled from 3-point range, shooting 16.7 percent on 3 of 18 total. However, they shot 43.9 percent overall, going 25 of 57.
ETSU forced 10 turnovers, which led to 12 points and had 12 second chance points on 10 total offensive rebounds.
The Lady Bucs play Furman University at home at 7 p.m. Feb. 9.
