Friday, February 29, 2008

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Feb. 29, 2008) - Before the season began the ETSU women's basketball team decided to follow the motto of  "One Team…One Goal," meaning it will take a group effort to win an Atlantic Sun Championship. On Saturday, the first step of the Lady Bucs' goal can become a reality as they look to win the conference crown outright when ETSU faces USC Upstate. Tip is set for 1 p.m. inside the G.B. Hodge Center.

The Lady Buccaneers have already won a share of the conference title with their 88-76 win at Gardner-Webb Monday night. The victory marked ETSU's first regular season championship since head coach Karen Kemp took over the duties in 1994-95. Ironically, that year was DeShawne Blocker's senior season and now she is in her second year as a Lady Buc assistant.

Florida Gulf Coast kept its chances alive for a share of the title by knocking off Jacksonville, 75-59, on Thursday night. The Eagles trail the Lady Bucs by one-game as they sit at 12-3 in the conference. 

ETSU has won four straight and 11 of its last 12 contests. During the four-game streak the Lady Bucs have notched some very impressive statistics. In this stretch, ETSU is knocking off its opponents by 24 points per game (89.2-65.2) as four Lady Buccaneer players are averaging over 14 points a contest. Senior Michele DeVault (Columbus, Ohio) leads the charge with 16.3ppg, but sophomore's Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.), Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) and TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) are also contributing in monstrous ways. Evans is posting 15.8ppg, Belcher 15.3 and Wiles is at 14.3. As a team, ETSU is shooting 49.3 percent (133-270) from the field and 47.5 percent (62-87) from behind the arc.

USC Upstate will close out its season tomorrow afternoon. The Spartans have lost 17 of their last 18 contests and stand at 5-23, 1-14 in conference play. Despite sophomore guard Courtney Hawkins pouring in a career-high 35 points Monday night, Upstate fell 62-47 at Campbell. Hawkins is averaging 19.2 points in 15 league games, which totals 35 percent of the Spartans' scoring. As a team, they are putting up only 54.5 points per game and are being out-rebounded, 42.5 to 31.8.

Fans unable to attend the game can watch via the live video streaming accessed at ASun.TV or by clicking the link located above.