Monday, January 24, 2005

GREENVILLE, S.C. (Jan. 24, 2005) - Despite 18 second half points from Tiffani Mayes (Sumter, S.C.) the Lady Bucs basketball squad fell to the Furman Paladins 52-49 tonight in Southern Conference Action. With the loss, ETSU falls to 8-10, 6-5 SoCon, while Furman improves to 13-6, 8-4 SoCon. Candace Gibson (Warner Robbins, Ga.) tallied four blocks adding six rebounds, while B.J. Banjo (Baltimore, Md.) added eight points and three assists for ETSU.

ETSU jumped out to a 6-4 lead early in the first period, but the Lady Paladins went on a 16-0 run to hold the 20-6 advantage with 8:43 left to play.  A lay-up by Mayes at the 7:39 mark snapped the Bucs' scoring drought, but Furman continued to put points on the board and held a 30-15 advantage at the halftime break.  Mayes, the Southern Conference scoring leader, managed just four first-half points and Furman out-rebounded ETSU 25-18.

The Bucs returned to the floor for the second half and immediately started feeding the ball to Mayes, who scored 10 points in the first seven minutes to help ETSU go on a 16-8 run and pull within seven at the 12:54 mark.  A missed Furman three-pointer combined with three consecutive Lady Paladin turnovers to allow the Bucs to pull within two, 40-38, with 10:09 left in the game.  At 8:40, point guard Tommi Paris gave Furman its first bucket since 12:27, but another Mayes lay-up at 7:46 put ETSU back within two, 42-40. 

With Furman's advantage fluctuating between two and four points for the next six minutes, Banjo managed a three-pointer from eight feet beyond the arc to cut the Furman lead to one, 50-49 with just 16 ticks left on the clock.  The Bucs were forced to foul and Paris hit both ends of the one-and-one to stretch the Furman lead to three.  ETSU's Holly Moring (Irmo, S.C.) missed a desperation three with eight seconds to play and Paris grabbed the rebound to secure the Furman victory.

When the dust cleared Mayes had tallied 22 points on an 11-for-21 night from the field.  Banjo and Kelly Turman (Atlanta, Ga.) each added eight, while Banjo topped the squad's rebounding effort, with nine.

ETSU will return to action Saturday when they face SoCon leader Chattanooga in a 7:00 p.m. match-up before returning home Jan. 31^st to host College of Charleston at 7:00 p.m. continuing 2004-05 Southern Conference action.