Monday, December 20, 2004

Lady Bucs overrun by Paladins, fall 64-56

For Immediate Release

Contact: Emily Feeney (423) 439-5612

JOHNSON CITY, TENN. (Dec. 20, 2004) -  Despite a 20-point, 13-rebound effort from Lady Bucs senior forward Tiffani Mayes (Sumter, S.C.), the Lady Bucs basketball squad fell to Southern Conference foe Furman tonight in Memorial Center 64-56.  With the loss, the Bucs fall to 4-5, 2-1 in SoCon play for the year, while the Paladins improve to 7-1, 3-0 in SoCon action.  Candace Gibson (Warner Robbins, Ga.) tied a career-high with 11 rebounds on the night, while Laney Harris paced the Paladins with 15 points, including a 3-4 effort from beyond the arc.

ETSU was the dominant team for most of the 40 minutes of play, however poor shooting from the floor, and from the charity stripe, led to a Furman comeback in the waning minutes of the contest.  With the 12-8 lead mid-way through the first half, the Lady Bucs turned on the offense with Gibson and Mayes hitting crucial shots underneath the basket for ETSU.  Two Holly Moring (Irmo, S.C.) free throws and an Anna Marie Ricciardi (Canton, Ohio) baseline jumper capped off the Lady Bucs 6-0 run heading into the under eight-minute media timeout giving them the 20-14 upperhand. 

Leading the way for the Bucs in the first half was Mayes with 10 points, while B.J. Banjo (Baltimore, Md.) and Moring tallied six and five points respectively.  Hitting just 30 percent of their shots in the first set, the Bucs took the 31-28 halftime lead.  Harris tallied 15 points and two steals in the first half for the visiting Paladins, while Chrissy Phelps posted five points and two assists from the Furman bench.

The second half began with a two-free throw effort from Furman guard Tommi Paris followed by a Mayes jumper as the Paladins neared the score at 35-33 off a Jessica Lange lay-up and made free throw.  ETSU managed to hold its lead until the five-minute mark when the Paladins tied the game for the first time of the night at 50-50.  The Lady Bucs re-took the short-lived 52-50 lead, however Furman went on an 11-point run capturing their first lead of the night that the ETSU offense was never able to overcome, as the Bucs fell 64-56 in their first SoCon loss of the 2004-05 year.

"I am very proud of our defensive effort tonight, and the last two games overall.  We've forced our last two opponents into 71 turnovers combined and we need to concentrate on capitalizing and scoring on our end of the court," Lady Bucs head coach Karen Kemp had to say.

ETSU was led by Mayes with 20 points, 13 rebounds and three steals, while Gibson added six points, 11 rebounds and two steals in the loss.  Banjo did post a career-high seven assists on the night, adding 11 points and three steals in 39 minutes on the court.

The Lady Bucs will host Georgia Southern on Dec. 28^th after the holiday break.  Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. as they continue Southern Conference play from Memorial Center.