Monday, January 31, 2005

(Jan. 31, 2005) - Despite a late rally by the East Tennessee Lady Bucs basketball squad, College of Charleston proved too strong taking the 51-48 victory in tonight's Southern Conference match-up.  ETSU falls to 8-12, 6-7 in SoCon play for the year, while the Cougars improve to 8-11, 5-8 in conference play.  Point guard B.J. Banjo (Baltimore, Md.) led all scorers with 18 points on the night, adding two assists and three steals for the Bucs.  Tiffani Mayes (Sumter, S.C.) added 12 points and five rebounds in 40 minutes on the floor, while Candace Gibson (Warner Robbins, Ga.) tallied eight points and nine rebounds in the loss.  Pacing the Cougars was Marketta Talley with 14 points and seven assists, while Erika Smith added a team-high seven rebounds for the night.

Both teams answered point for point through the majority of the first half with Charleston posting its biggest lead of the half at eight points with just one second remaining in the first.  A pair of consecutive three point baskets from Talley and two Erika Irick free throws gave the visitors the 26-18 lead heading into the halftime intermission.

In the first half of play, both teams managed four points in the paint while ETSU shot just 22 percent from the floor compared to the 37 percent of the Cougars.  Banjo managed 10 points during the first half of play, while Talley went 3-5 from the floor with eight points in the first half to lead College of Charleston.

The Lady Bucs began the second half nearing the Cougar lead at just 32-27 with 13 minutes remaining in the half.  Mayes led the ETSU battle on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court with a steal and two made free throws to give the home team two much needed points as the Cougar lead stood at 34-28 with 11 minutes remaining in the contest.  A made two pointer by freshman guard Kelly Turman (Atlanta, Ga.) tied the game at 36-36 with just over six minutes remaining in the half, however a solid effort from the Cougar defense and made free throws were the story of the final five minutes as the visitors took the 51-48 victory.

For the game, ETSU shot 29 percent from the floor, however the struggle from beyond the arc, just 3-11 for the game, compared to the 4-8 three point shooting effort from the Cougar offense led to the Lady Bucs loss.  Banjo was perfect from the charity stripe hitting all seven attempts, while the Bucs shot 11-12 from the line compared to the 7-11 effort from Charleston.

ETSU will be back in action Feb. 5 when they travel to Davidson, N.C. to face the Wildcats.  Game time is set for 3:00 p.m. and will be broadcast over the Mountain States Health Alliance Buccaneer Sports Network with pre-game coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m.