JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 22, 2024) – The ETSU women's basketball team got back into the win column on Thursday night with a 54-51 victory over UNC Greensboro at Brooks Gym. With Thursday's win, the Buccaneers improve to 17-9 overall and 6-5 in SoCon play. Furthermore, it was ETSU's 11^th home win of the season, which is its most in a season since 2014-15.
 
Neveah Brown led the scoring charge for the Bucs in the win netting 15 points on 7-for-15 effort from the field. Meghan Downing was not far behind finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds. The 13 points for Downing marked a new career-high for her. Courtney Moore chipped in eight points off the bench and Journee McDaniel added seven rebounds to help the cause.
 
There was not a ton of scoring in the opening quarter as the two teams combined for 20 points. What offense the Buccaneers did get came from Brown. Brown scored eight of the 11 points for ETSU with the other three coming from Breanne Beatty. The Buccaneer defense held the Spartans to 21.4 percent shooting in the first quarter. Because of the offense from Brown and defense, ETSU held a two-point lead after one quarter, 11-9.
 
The second quarter was Downing's turn to supply the offense. Nine of Downing's 13 points came in the second quarter and the Bucs shot an efficient 6-for-10 from the field. At one point, ETSU reeled off an 8-0 run midway through the second to extend its lead to eight. UNCG briefly cut the Buccaneer lead in half, but ETSU built its advantage back out to seven, 27-20, heading into halftime.
 
Greensboro made some stellar adjustments during the break. The Spartans scored a game-high 21 points in the third and rapidly cut into ETSU's lead. The score was tied at five different points in the third until a pair of made free throws by UNCG gave it a 41-39 lead heading to the fourth.
 
ETSU and UNCG continued to battle back-and-forth in the final quarter. No lead grew to more than five points in the quarter. The Bucs outrebounded the Spartans, 14-8, in the final 10 minutes. Along with the edge on the boards, the swing in momentum seemed to occur with 28 seconds to go when Downing laid it in from a nice pass from Kendall Folley. The layup gave ETSU a two-point lead, 51-49. UNCG had multiple tries to tie or take the lead, but none found the bottom of the net. Made free throws from Jaileyah Cotton and Moore down the stretch finished off the 54-51 victory for the Bucs.
 
ETSU will close out its home schedule on Saturday when it hosts Western Carolina at Brooks Gym. The team will honor its five seniors prior to tip-off. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
For more information on Buccaneer women's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's basketball tab.