MACON, Ga. (Feb. 15, 2025) – East Tennessee State University women's basketball used a late 3-pointer from Courtney Moore to stave off a feisty Mercer squad 70-67 on Saturday.

The Buccaneers shot the ball well throughout, including a 50% mark from beyond the arc and 95% (19-20) at the free throw line. ETSU also scored 19 points off of 17 Mercer turnovers.

Moore extended her streak of scoring in double-digit games to 13 by the first half. The 5th year guard remains the lone player in the SoCon to score in double figures in every conference game, and she led ETSU over the Bears with 24. It was Moore's fourth 20-point game of the season and her second in conference play.

Junior forward Meghan Downing scored 13 with eight rebounds and three blocks. Freshman guard Carmen Richardson added 12 in one of her better games in SoCon action, and senior guard Braylyn Milton posted ten.

Richardson started ETSU off with a 3-pointer for the first make from the field. Downing, Milton and Moore all hit shots as the offense began humming along en route to a 19-12 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Buccaneer offense kept clicking through the start of the second, as Milton and Moore hit back-to-back triples to open the quarter and Moore knocked down another with 5:22 to play. The Bears' defense started getting stops, though. The Blue & Gold only got a pair of free throws from 5th year forward Isabella Hunt in the last five minutes of the frame and led 38-31 at the break.

Mercer, which entered the game as the worst 3-point shooting team in the SoCon, got going from behind the arc in the third quarter. The Bears hit three triples as they tightened ETSU's lead to 54-51 heading to the final frame.

Moore took over the game in the fourth quarter. Aided by Milton and Downing, who combined for five in the frame, Moore scored 11 including the game-winner. 

It looked like ETSU might not need any-late game heroics from the captain as the Buccaneers held a 67-61 lead with two minutes to play and had forced Mercer turnovers on three of its last four possessions. However, the Bears got a layup and a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions to draw within two points with 51 seconds to play. 

After the Bucs missed a shot, Mercer immediately got to the free throw line with 15.2 seconds to go. The Bears missed both, but got an offensive rebound. A Downing block led to a third-chance Mercer effort and resulted in another trip to the free throw line. Those two shots with 12.2 seconds to go tied the game at 67.

ETSU took a timeout to set up an out-of-bounds play. Senior guard Kendall Folley inbounded to Moore, who swung the ball to Milton. Milton passed the ball back across the top of the key to an open Downing, who attracted a pair of defenders, leaving Moore wide-open from the high corner. The Gainesville native calmly buried the dagger 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds to play.

A heave from Mercer fell short of the basket and the Buccaneers walked away with a 70-67 win.

Next, ETSU returns to Johnson City for its last three games of the 2024-25 regular season, beginning against Chattanooga at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.

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