Friday, December 04, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Dec. 4, 2009) - After covering over 11,000 miles on a four-game road swing, the ETSU women's basketball team is set to return to Memorial Center and open Atlantic Sun Conference play when the Lady Bucs host North Florida on Saturday afternoon. Tip is set for 1 p.m.

The road trip was a little bumpy for the Lady Bucs - who went 1-3 against Mississippi State, Arkansas, Arizona State and Hawai'i - but ETSU finished the trip out on a positive note last Sunday night against the Rainbow Wahine. The Lady Bucs needed an extra five minutes, but in the end, ETSU walked out of Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center with a 94-83 overtime win over the Rainbow Wahine.

ETSU (2-3) is currently led by the senior combo of TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) and Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.). Wiles has posted 20-plus points in three of the five games played this season, while Evans is on a tear - recording four straight double-doubles. Just like the dominate duo left off last season, Wiles (19.2 ppg) and Evans (17.4 ppg) rank 1-2 in scoring amongst A-Sun players. In addition to Wiles and Evans, freshman post Tosha Austin (Chattanooga) and junior newcomer Tarita Gordon (Wichita, Kan.) are coming off their best performances in a Lady Buccaneer uniform at Hawaii. Austin finished with six points and grabbed 15 rebounds - becoming the second player this year to record 15 boards in one game (Siarre Evans at Arkansas). Meanwhile, Gordon came off the bench to record a career high 25 points on 12-of-18 shooting.

Like the Lady Bucs, UNF (1-5, 0-1) has stepped up and played a rigorous schedule to start the season. The Ospreys enter play on Saturday losing five of their first six games, but UNF began the year with games at Florida State, at Pittsburgh, and at South Florida. UNF's lone win this season came on Nov. 24, when they defeated Bethune-Cookman, 75-57.

UNF is led by sophomore guard Brittany Kirkland and junior guard Juliemay Syquio. Kirkland leads the team with 12.0 points per game, while Syquio is averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest.

The Lady Bucs currently lead the all-time series, 6-1, with their lone loss coming at North Florida last season. North Florida snapped ETSU's 10-game conference win streak back on Jan. 31; however, despite the loss the Lady Bucs are winning on average by 17 points in the series (71 to 54).

Fans unable to make the trip to Johnson City can view all the action live courtesy of A-Sun.TV. To access live video streaming, visit https://asun.neulion.com/asc/console.jsp or click on the link above.

In addition, ETSU students who attend Saturday's contest - along with a handful of selected Lady Buccaneer games - will have a chance to win a Nintendo Wii and enter a drawing for a $1,000 cash giveaway, which will be announced at the last regular season game on Feb. 22. Each time ETSU students attend a Lady Buccaneer game, they will have an opportunity to enter the drawing for more chances to win the cash prize at the end of the season against USC Upstate.

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