JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 24, 2024) – The ETSU women's basketball team rolled to a 71-33 victory over Western Carolina to celebrate Senior Day on Saturday at Brooks Gym. The five seniors honored before the game were River Ruffus-Milner, Meleah Kirtner, Sarah Thompson, Jakhyia Davis, and Breanne Beatty. Saturday's win improves ETSU's record to 18-9 overall and 7-5 in league play.
 
ETSU's victory on Saturday not only boosted its home record to 12-3 but also set a multiple season-best marks. The 33 points allowed for ETSU is the lowest for any game this season and the 38-point margin of victory is the largest of the 2023-24 campaign. The 33 points allowed is the fewest by an ETSU opponent since it held Vanderbilt to 31 in their win over the Commodores in December 2022. Furthermore, the 38-point win was ETSU's largest against a SoCon opponent since it defeated Wofford by the same margin last February. In the series against Western Carolina, Saturday marked ETSU's largest win over the Catamounts since 1995 when the Bucs knocked off WCU by 41 points, 94-53.
 
Brecken Snotherly led the Bucs in scoring on Saturday with 14 points on a 6-for-11 effort from the field. Nevaeh Brown added 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Brown's seven assists set a new career-high and the Bucs set a new season-best total for assists with 19 against the Catamounts. Journee McDaniel also finished the day with 13 points along with seven rebounds.
 

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The Bucs wasted little time in jumping on the Catamounts. ETSU scored the first nine points of the game 17 of the first 21 points of the day. Brown was especially good early for the Bucs netting 11 points in the first 10 minutes that included a trio of makes from beyond the arc. Brown's hot shooting and the stellar play from the rest of the Bucs had ETSU up by 10, 22-12, after one quarter of play.
 
The second quarter was all about defense for ETSU. The Buccaneer defense held the Catamounts to just two points in the second. The two points allowed matched a season-low for points allowed in the quarter (1^st quarter at Radford) for the Bucs. ETSU got 14 points from its reserves and turned nine WCU turnovers into seven points. The Buccaneer lead grew to 24, 38-14, after 20 minutes of play.
 
ETSU continued to build its lead into the second half. Snotherly went a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in the stanza and was one of three Bucs to knock down a 3-pointer in the quarter joining Courtney Moore and Thompson. The Buccaneer lead grew to 31 points with 53 seconds to go in the quarter before it settled at 29 points (55-26) heading to the fourth quarter.
 
The Buc closed out Saturday strong outscoring the Catamounts, 16-7, and finished off the decisive 71-33 victory.  11 of ETSU's 16 points in the fourth quarter came from McDaniel after she shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. Saturday's win is also ETSU's 20^th in the last 21 matchups against Western Carolina.
 
A couple of individual milestones were reached by Bucs on Saturday. Both Beatty and Moore knocked down their respective 150^th career 3-pointer on the day. Beatty (38) and Moore (36) rank first and second on ETSU in 3-pointers made this season.
 
The Bucs will return to action on Thursday when they visit Wofford in a key SoCon matchup. With Saturday's results, the Bucs and Terriers are tied for second place in the SoCon standings with identical 7-5 records. The Terriers upended the Bucs earlier this season at Freedom Hall, 77-65. Tip-off between the Bucs and Terriers on Thursday is set for 7 p.m.
 
For more information on Buccaneer women's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's basketball tab.