Sunday, February 22, 2009

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Feb. 22, 2009) - After clinching the number one seed in next month's Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament, the ETSU women's basketball team will now look to cap off a perfect four-game road swing Monday night when the Lady Bucs travel to USC Upstate. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the G.B. Hodge Center.

The Lady Bucs locked up the number one seed after Florida Gulf Coast defeated Jacksonville 68-67 Saturday afternoon inside Veterans Memorial Arena. The Eagles trailed for the entire game until Kelsey Jacobson drained a game-winning 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining to post FGCU's 14^th straight win.

ETSU (16-9, 14-3) trails FGCU by one game, but the Lady Bucs are tied with the Eagles in the loss column. So, should FGCU lose to Campbell on Thursday night and ETSU win out against USC Upstate, Kennesaw State and Mercer, the Lady Bucs will win the regular season title outright.

Prior to starting this four-game conference road swing, ETSU dropped two of its last three games; however, the Lady Bucs quickly responded with wins at Lipscomb, Belmont and Campbell to move to 14-3 in A-Sun play. The three-headed monster of Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.), Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) and TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) have been the catalysts for the Lady Bucs during this important stretch. Belcher is averaging a team-best 19 points per game and hitting 59.5 percent from the floor. Meanwhile, Evans has been unstoppable, as she is posting 18.3ppg, 11.7rpg and 3.3apg. Rounding out the attack is Wiles' 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists.

USC Upstate (11-15, 6-11) has dropped three straight games and seven of its last nine. The Spartans are coming off a 62-58 loss at Campbell on Saturday afternoon where Courtney Hawkins posted 17 points, three assists and three steals versus the Lady Camels. As a team, the Spartans turned the ball over 25 times and Campbell scored 22 points off those miscues. This season Upstate is averaging 19.9 turnovers per game and scoring 66.5 points per contest.

Fans unable to make the trip to Spartanburg, S.C. can catch all the action live on ASun.TV. In addition, live stats will be available by visiting http://upstatespartans.cstv.com.

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