JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 23, 2024) – The ETSU women's basketball team will close out its home schedule on Saturday when it hosts Western Carolina at Brooks Gym. Prior to the game, the Bucs will honor their five seniors: Breanne Beatty, Meleah Kirtner, River Ruffus-Milner, Sarah Thompson, and Jakhyia Davis. Tip-off for Saturday's matchup with the Catamounts is set for 2 p.m.
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Saturday February 22
TIME: 2 p.m. 
LOCATION: Johnson City, Tenn. (Brooks Gym)
TEAMS: Western Carolina vs. ETSU
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS:  Statbroadcast
TWITTER: @ETSU_WBB
GAME SPONSOR: College of Public Health • First 1,000 fans will receive a gold rally towel courtesy of College of Public Health 
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU got back into the win column on Thursday with a 54-51 victory over UNC Greensboro. Thursday's win improves ETSU's record to 17-9 overall and 6-5 in league play.
• For the 14^th time this season, Nevaeh Brown led the Bucs in scoring in Thursday's win over UNCG. Brown, who netted 15 points against the Spartans, has paced ETSU on the scoreboard five of the last six games and seven of the 11 conference games so far.
• Another key player for the Bucs on Thursday was Meghan Downing. Downing set a new career-high with 13 points (5-for-8 from the field) to go with eight rebounds. Downing has started every game for ETSU since January 25 vs. Western Carolina. In that time frame, Downing has averaged 7.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
• Thursday's win was key in ETSU's battle for positioning for the upcoming SoCon Tournament. By winning Thursday, the Bucs are now third with a 6-5 record and just a game behind second place Wofford (7-4). Chattanooga has already clinched the regular season title with three games remaining.
• Entering the final three games of the regular season, the Bucs rank second in the conference in field goal percentage defense (.371), scoring defense (54.9) and overall winning percentage (65.4). The Bucs are also committing the fewest fouls per game of any SoCon team (14.4). Furthermore, ETSU's scoring defense ranks 13^th in the nation.
• Coming down the stretch run of the season, the Bucs have a chance to reach 20 wins for the second consecutive year. The last time the Bucs won 20-plus games in back-to-back years was in 2008-09 (20) and 2009-10 (23).
• ETSU, which is 11-3 at home so far this season, will look to close out its home slate with a win. In recent years, the Bucs have done just that as they have won six of their last seven home finales. In 2022-23, ETSU edged out Furman, 66-63, in its final home game.
• A couple of Buccaneers are nearing 150 career 3-pointers entering Saturday's game. Courtney Moore needs to make just two more to reach this milestone, while Beatty needs just one more. Beatty also needs to score just 14 more points to reach 1,100 for her collegiate career.

 
ABOUT WESTERN CAROLINA

• Western Carolina is currently 6-21 overall and 1-11 in SoCon play.
• The Catamounts have lost five straight games but played league-leading Chattanooga tough on Thursday falling to the Mocs, 60-56.
• A couple players to watch for Western Carolina on Saturday are Chelsea Wooten and Jada Burton. Wooten leads all SoCon players averaging 2.24 made 3-pointers per game this season. Burton, meanwhile, ranks second in the league in assists with 101.
• Saturday will mark the 83^rd all-time meeting between the Bucs and Catamounts. ETSU has won 58 of the previous 82 matchups including the last five. Since re-entering the SoCon for the 2014-2015 season, the Buccaneers are 19-1 against Western Carolina with WCU's lone victory coming on February 23, 2021, in Johnson City, 62-48. 

UP NEXT 
ETSU will be back in action next Thursday when it visits Wofford. Tip-off for that game is set for 7 p.m.        
 
PURCHASE TICKETS
To purchase season or single game tickets for ETSU women's basketball, visit ETSUTickets.com or call 423-439-3878.
 
For more information on Buccaneer women's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's basketball tab.