JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 17, 2025) – East Tennessee State University women's basketball will look to carry over its strong showing against Mercer to the back half of its opening SoCon homestand against Samford.
Gameday Information vs. Samford
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 18
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Johnson City, Tenn. | Brooks Gymnasium
TEAMS: ETSU (10-8, 1-2) vs. Samford (5-13, 0-2)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (
Keith Brake and Bruce Tranbarger)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com (StatBroadcast)
TWITTER/X: @ETSU_WBB
TICKETS: ETSU Tickets
The Bucs come into the contest off of one of their most complete performances of the season. ETSU scored 22 points off of 17 forced turnovers in the 70-46 rout of Mercer for its first conference win of the season while committing a season-low seven fouls. The Bucs also got a deep showing from the bench, outsourcing the Bears 26-4 in bench points.
The Blue & Gold also held Mercer to a season-low four attempts from the free throw line, the only time the Bears have shot single-digit free throws this season. Mercer also tallied just two steals, the lowest of any Buc opponent. The Bears also managed just 24 total and five offensive rebounds, both of which were also lows for any ETSU opponent.
With the 46 point output from the Bears, ETSU has now held eight opponents under 50 points this season, including holding five separate opponents to their worst offensive performance of the season, after doing so on nine occasions in all of 2023-24, and is 8-0 when doing so.
Samford is 0-2 and sits in last place in the conference standings through a week and a half of SoCon play. The Bulldogs, who have yet to play a home conference game, dropped their opener 53-56 at Mercer, and were unable to maintain a six-point lead to open the fourth quarter at Chattanooga, falling 69-63.
Emily Bowman leads the Bulldogs with 11.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, but last played on Dec. 29, 2024, against Eastern Kentucky. In her absence, Kennedy Langham and Claire Johnson have stepped up for Samford. Langham, who averages 10.9 points per game, scored 12 and 22 against Mercer and Chattanooga, while Johnson added 14 and 10 against the Bears and Mocs.
ETSU is 4-1 against Samford in the Mock Brown era. The Bulldogs won the first contest between the two in Mock's tenure at Freedom Hall, but the Bucs are 4-0 since, including the lone SoCon Championship win ETSU has notched in the past two seasons.
In 2023-24,
Courtney Moore and
Brecken Snotherly scored 17 and 15, respectively, as the Blue & Gold smothered the Bulldogs 57-40 at home. Snotherly's 15 points on seven made field goals both stood as her career highs until she topped those marks (19 on 9-for-13 shooting) against Tusculum to begin 2025. In the return trip to Birmingham,
Kendall Folley scored nine with four rebounds and three steals in the 69-56 win.
For more information on Buccaneer women's basketball, follow @ETSU_WBB on X (Twitter) and Instagram, and visit ETSUBucs.com.
