JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 18, 2025) – East Tennessee State University women's basketball thrashed Samford, 69-48, on Saturday afternoon.
The Buccaneer defense once again lived up to its billing at home, holding Samford to just 48 points. The outing marks the ninth time the Blue & Gold have held an opponent to under 50 points in 2024-25 after doing so nine times throughout the entire 2023-24 season. 

The defense created offense on Saturday, as the Bucs totaled 30 points off 18 Samford turnovers, while ceding just four points to the Bulldogs off of giveaways, the fewest against a Division 1 opponent this season. 

Four players scored in double digits for ETSU, led by 5th year guard Courtney Moore with 16. Junior forward Meghan Downing, senior guard Braylyn Milton and redshirt junior guard Paige Lyons each scored ten.

Downing opened the game with a layup before both teams went cold from the field for the majority of the opening quarter, combining for 26 missed shots. With the score 9-7, sophomore guard Brecken Snotherly grabbed a rebound with just seconds left on the clock before slowly turning up court. After hearing yells to go from the bench, she crossed halfcourt and buried a logo 3-pointer at the buzzer to give ETSU a 12-7 lead. 
 
After seeing Snotherly's shot fall, the rest of the Bucs opened up the scoring. The Blue & Gold went 4-of-5 from long range in the second, with a pair of makes from Moore, along with one from Snotherly and freshman guard Lucy Hood. Downing and 5th year forward Isabella Hunt dominated on the block, combining for ten in the quarter. The Bulldogs ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 36-24 at the break.

Samford kept fighting, going back and forth with Milton and Moore with two early makes, but after hitting a 3-pointer with 8:42 to go, the Bucs held the Bulldogs without a field goal for eight minutes. A 19-2 run to put the game away ensued, and ETSU cruised to a 57-33 lead at the end of the third.

With the game largely in hand, the Blue & Gold throttled back the pressure in the final frame. The Bucs handled Samford's full court press to the end of the game, and took their second conference win and eighth straight home win 69-48.

Next, ETSU begins a road trip against Chattanooga (8-9, 3-1 SoCon) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 25.

For more information on Buccaneer women's basketball, follow @ETSU_WBB on X (Twitter) and Instagram, and visit ETSUBucs.com.