Saturday, February 05, 2005

DAVIDSON, N.C. (Feb. 5, 2005) - The Lady Bucs basketball squad fell to Southern Conference foe Davidson today 68-56. Despite a late rally in the final minutes of the contest, ETSU falls to 8-13, 6-8 in SoCon play. Led by Tiffani Mayes (Sumter, S.C.) with 15 points and six rebounds, point guard B.J. Banjo (Baltimore, Md.) added 13 points, five rebounds and eight assists in the loss. Pacing the Wildcats were Danielle Hemerka and Katie Hamilton who each added 14 points, while Hemerka managed a game-high nine rebounds.

The Wildcats turned a four-point halftime lead, 26-22, into a 19-point cushion midway through the second stanza thanks to connecting on 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) field goal attempts. Sophomore Jessica Mitchell capped the stretch with a three-pointer from the left wing to make the score 52-33 with 10:48 left in the contest.

In the loss, ETSU was outrebounded by a staggering 50-28 margin, while the ‘Cats shot 41.3 percent for the game compared to the 36.8 percent of the Lady Bucs.  Steals were even with each team posting nine, while ETSU held the slight edge with 19 turnovers compared to the 20 of Davidson.  The Bucs scored seven second chance points while the home squad managed 14 for the win.

Davidson built its lead to as many as 22 on a couple of occasions before East Tennessee State tried to conjure up a late rally. The Bucs went on a 15-4 spurt in the final five minutes to creep to within nine, 65-56, at 1:35. Davidson's defense stepped up down the stretch though, forcing three Buc turnovers in the final 90 seconds of action to keep ETSU from getting any closer.

Candace Gibson (Warner Robins, Ga.) added six points and six rebounds for the Bucs, while Michelle DeVault (Columbus, Ohio) tallied four shots from beyond the arc to finish the contest with 14 points and four rebounds in 31 minutes on the floor for the Lady Bucs.

The Bucs return to action Monday when they travel to face Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C. for a 5:00 p.m. match-up.  Visit ETSUBucs.com for updates and game recap.