ETSU places four-players in double-figures, led by Mitchell’s second double-double of season

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 26, 2014) – For the fourth time this season, the ETSU women’s basketball team had four players in double-figures – led by 16 points from redshirt senior Destiny Mitchell (Bluffton, Ga.) – but it was not enough to overcome the Indiana Hoosiers in a 97-69 loss on Wednesday afternoon inside Assembly Hall.

With the loss, ETSU falls to 3-3 on the young season while Indiana improves to 5-0.

To begin the game, IU got on the board early but the Bucs fired back with four three-pointers from Shamauria Bridges (Miramar, Fla.) in the first six minutes of the game to help keep pace. With Bridges leading the Blue & Gold on the offensive end, the sophomore guard picked up an unfortunate second foul with 11:24 left to play in the period. With a key offensive weapon on the bench for the duration of the half, the Bucs needed to find another answer on offense as well as slow down the hot-shooting Hoosiers. Down the stretch of the period, IU was able to execute on offense to up its advantage while ETSU was searching for another scoring punch to go along with Bridges and Mitchell. As a result, the Blue & Gold went into halftime trailing, 50-28.

Sporting a sizeable advantage, the home team picked up where it left off in the second half. After IU increased its lead to a then-game-high 27 points with 15:36 to go, the Bucs refused go away lightly and capped a 16-5 run with a Mitchell jumper with 11:09 to go. The Hoosiers then responded with a 15-1 run over the next six minutes to essentially put the game away. Following IU going up by a game-high 33 points with 4:53 left to play, ETSU went on a late surge to bring the score to 97-69 at the final horn.

Redshirt senior Mitchell recorded her second double-double of the season – and 28^th of her career – with 11 rebounds to go along with her point total. Three additional Buccaneers tallied double-digit scoring performances including 15 points from Bridges, 14 from Chandler Christopher (Greeneville, Tenn.) and 10 from Maria Bond (Macon, Ga.). For the third-consecutive game, Bridges knocked down a career-high five three-pointers and Bond’s eight rebounds are a season-high. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers featured five players in double-figures including a game-high 21 points from Larryn Brooks.

For the game, Indiana shot the ball at an impressive 57 percent including 64 percent in the first half. The Hoosiers also drained 8-of-15 three-pointers and converted on 17-of-22 opportunities from the free throw line. In addition, IU turned 21 ETSU turnovers into 32 points and recorded 46 points in the paint as well as notched 27 bench points.

The Bucs shot it at a 43 percent clip over the course of the contest and buried a fairly-efficient 11-of-16 from the charity stripe. Trailing in many of the statistical categories, the Blue & Gold did outrebound the Hoosiers, 34-33, and converted 12 offensive rebounds into nine second-chance points. ETSU also turned Indiana over 13 times resulting in 14 points off of these miscues

After returning to Johnson City, Tennessee for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Bucs will hit the road again to face Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 5 p.m.

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