Thursday, February 12, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 12, 2009) - The last time the Lady Bucs were inside Allen Arena they were cutting down the nets en route to claiming their first-ever Atlantic Sun Championship and NCAA Tournament berth.

On Friday night, ETSU enters the same venue for the first time since the historic occasion, when the Lady Bucs face Lipscomb at 6 p.m. central (7 p.m. eastern). Fans unable to make the trip to the Music City can view all the action live on CSS.

ETSU (13-9, 11-3) needs to quickly get back on track after dropping two of its last three games and seeing sole possession of first-place taken away from them. Following the Lady Bucs' heartbreaking 71-69 loss to Florida Gulf Coast last Saturday, the Eagles moved a half-game ahead of ETSU in the conference standings.

Juniors TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) and Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.) pack a 1-2 punch for the Lady Bucs and the dominate duo sit atop the A-Sun scoring list as well. Wiles (16.3ppg) and Evans (15.3 ppg) join Utah's Morgan Warburton and Kalee Whipple (Mountain West) and Murray State's Ashley Hayes and Amber Guffey (Ohio Valley), as the only three tandems to lead their respective leagues in scoring.

Like ETSU, the Lady Bisons are coming off a heartbreaking loss of their own.

Lipscomb (4-19, 2-12) hit a season-high 11 3-pointers and had a chance to hit game-winning free throws after Chelsea Burroughs was fouled with eight-tenths of a second remaining, but the freshman forward hit one of three attempts and Belmont hung on for a 61-60 win over the Lady Bisons on Tuesday evening inside Allen Arena.

Three Lipscomb players each scored 12 points apiece, while sophomore guard Jenna Bartsokas, who is averaging a team-best 11.7ppg, netted six points, dished out seven assists and forced two steals in 34 minutes of work. As a team, Lipscomb was only 13-of-24 from the charity stripe, but the Lady Bisons did assist on 14 of their 18 made field goals.

The Lady Bucs lead the all-time series, 8-1, with the lone loss coming in Nashville back on Feb. 3, 2007 (57-52). ETSU knocked off Lipscomb, 70-51, in Johnson City earlier this season.

Friday's game will also be aired live on ASun.TV and live stats will be available by clicking the link above. In addition, fans unable to make the trip over to Nashville can hear all the action as "Voice of the Bucs" Jay Sandos will be courtside calling the play-by-play on WKPT-AM 1590 in Johnson City, WKPT-AM 1400 in Kingsport and WKPT-AM 1490 in Bristol. Additionally, WKPT's FM translators in Johnson City (97.7), Kingsport (94.3), and Bristol (97.9) will also air Lady Buccaneer games.

For more information on Lady Buccaneer basketball, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.