Wednesday, January 28, 2009

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Jan. 28, 2009) - Coming off a perfect 4-0 homestand, the ETSU women's basketball team takes the road for a critical two-game conference swing, beginning Thursday night at Jacksonville. Game time is set for 7 p.m. inside Swisher Gym.

The Lady Bucs carry a school record nine-game conference winning streak and a two game lead in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings into Thursday night's contest. 

ETSU downed USC Upstate 80-68 on Monday evening thanks to strong efforts from Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.) and TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.). The junior stars each finished with 20 points each and tallied a pair of double-doubles. Evans grabbed 13 boards and Wiles ended with a career high 11.

Wiles has been the Lady Buccaneer leader during the month of January, as she is averaging 18.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists this month. The Danville, Va. native also leads the league in scoring (15.4) points and has scored double figures in 10 straight games - including averaging 23.5 points her last four contests.

Jacksonville (11-8, 7-3) will look to cut ETSU's league lead in half, as they are one of three teams chasing the Lady Bucs in the conference race. The Dolphins have won six of their last seven games since falling to ETSU (86-77) back on Jan. 3 in Johnson City. Jacksonville is led by senior preseason all-conference selection Virginia Gregoire's 10.6 points per game, while DaVina Hamilton is pitching in with 10.3 points per contest. As a team the Dolphins rank second in scoring defense (58.4) and first in turnover margin (+4.16) in the A-Sun.

The Lady Bucs lead the all-time series, 7-1, and have won the last three games. ETSU's lone loss came on Feb. 15, 2007, when Jacksonville defeated The Lady Bucs, 83-79, in Swisher Gym.

Fans unable to make the trip over to the Sunshine State can hear all the action as "Voice of the Lady Bucs" Don Helman 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.

In addition the game will be aired live on ASun.TV.

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