Box Score (HTML)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.—An 11-2 run midway through the second half by the East Tennessee State University women’s basketball team gave the Lady Buccaneers control of a back-and-forth contest on Saturday, and the visiting University of Evansville Purple Aces could never recover, as the Lady Bucs notched a 77-74 victory over UE at the Memorial Center in Johnson City, Tennessee.
After the two teams traded leads nine times in the second half, the Lady Bucs rattled off an 11-2 run over a span of 4:27 to turn a 60-59 Evansville lead into a 70-62 ETSU cushion with 5:21 to play. ETSU’s Michele DeVault scored five of her game-high 23 points to fuel the run.
Evansville would trim the lead back to three points on three different occasions late in the second half, but the Purple Aces could never get back to even. UE had one last desperation chance to tie the game at the end of regulation, but a three-quarter court heave by senior guard Courtney Felke came up just short as the buzzer sounded.
“After that run, we could just never get either that big stop or big shot we needed to get back to even, said UE head coach Tricia Cullop. “Either we would get a stop, and then they would answer with a stop of their own, or we would hit a shot and they would come down and hit a big shot.
“Rebounding was also a big difference in this game. We knew that they were going to attack the glass hard, and they did. I thought that we did a good job of boxing out in the first half, but in the second half, they were able to get second- and third-chance opportunities, and when you give good teams like that two and three looks at the basket, they will make you pay.”
ETSU led the rebounding statistic 34-28 over UE, including grabbing nine second-half offensive rebounds which led to 10 second-chance points after halftime.
The loss overshadowed a strong performance by UE senior guard Rebekah Parker, who scored a season-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor for the Purple Aces. Parker scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half, as she tried to help UE trim into the ETSU lead. Felke added 13 points and six assists for UE, while junior guard Ashley Austin and sophomore forward Anaris Sickles chipped in 11 and 10 points apiece.
DeVault led all scorers with 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the three-point line and a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the foul line. Overall, the Lady Bucs were perfect from the stripe on the afternoon, going 12-for-12 as a team from the line. Evansville, meanwhile, shot 88.9 percent (16-for-18).
With the victory, East Tennessee State improves to 2-3 on the year, while Evansville falls to 2-3. The Purple Aces will now return home to Roberts Stadium for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday morning, as Evansville will host Tennessee Tech in the annual Future Purple Aces Fast B.R.E.A.K. (Basketball Reinforcing Education To Area Kids) Game. Tip-off is set for 11:00 a.m. and Tuesday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
