Monday, January 02, 2006

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (January 2, 2006) - The Lady Bucs basketball squad downed Kennesaw State, 74-66, Monday night in Memorial Center.  With the win, ETSU remains perfect in Atlantic Sun play at 3-0, and extends its home winning streak to seven games.  Senior B.J. Banjo paced the Lady Bucs with 18 points, while classmate Candace Gibson (Warner Robins, Ga.) added 17.

Free throws would spell the difference for the Lady Bucs, now 7-3 overall, who went 24-for-30 from the charity stripe, including 16-straight to start the game, for a season-best 80.0 percent.  Sophomore Michele DeVault (Columbus, Ohio) led the charge with a perfect 9-for-9 showing, on her way to scoring 14 for the game.  Banjo, who went 7-for-8 for the night, was clutch down the stretch, draining four free throws in the last 22 seconds.  The Lady Owls would only make it to the line 13 times for the game.

Kennesaw State, (1-7, 1-2 A-Sun), which managed only one lead throughout the game, clawed within three with just over five minutes to go in the second half, but were quickly contained by a three by DeVault, bringing the Lady Buc lead back to six.  A pair of free throws by Banjo extended the lead to eight with 3:12 remaining, but three-pointer by Danielle Bates brought the Owls within striking distance at 65-60.

Jenny Norman (Peachtree City, Ga.) then widened the lead to seven with a layup on a pass from Banjo.  KSU's Shavonder Clarke, the A-Sun's top scorer, made it a two possession game once again with a set of free throws, but Banjo, the Conference's second-leading scorer, answered her rival with a bucket on the other end. 

The Owls would get within five again with two foul shots by Bates, at 69-64, but the Lady Bucs' 5-for-6 charity-stripe performance allowed to Owls to get no closer than six in the waning moments of the contest, giving the Lady Bucs the eight-point win.

Clarke would finish with a game-high 20.  Both Clarke and Banjo tallied 10 rebounds for the game, giving Banjo her first double-double of the season.  The Lady Bucs were able to hold the A-Sun star below her season averages in both points and rebounds, as Clarke was posting 24.0 ppg, and 11.9 rpg coming into tonight's contest.

Behind Clarke, Dominika Mieszkowska tallied 16 points, while Bates and Ngoneh Gaye added 13 and 11 points, respectively.  Bates would also contribute eight boards, all of which came on the offensive end.  The Lady Bucs out-rebounded the Owls, 42-37, including a 28-to-19 showing on the defensive glass.

The Lady Bucs will head to the Sunshine State this weekend for games against North Florida on Jan. 5 at, 7 p.m., and Jacksonville on Jan. 7, at 1 p.m.  ETSU will be back at home on Jan. 12, as Florida Atlantic visits Memorial Center.