Saturday, January 06, 2007

JOHNSON CITY, TENN. – Led by Alysha Clark’s 32 points, the Belmont women’s basketball team (9-4, 4-0 A-Sun) took sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Sun conference on Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins shut down East Tennessee State (7-7, 3-1 A-Sun), 78-69. The win moves BU to 4-0 in the league while the Lady Bucs slip to 3-1. The Bruins jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead behind back-to-back three pointers by junior Laura Cowley (Wartrace, Tenn.) with only one minute ticked off the clock. A pair of free throws by sophomore Alysha Clark (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) gave BU the 8-0 advantage before Siarre Evans was able to find the bottom of the net for ETSU’s first points of the game.

Belmont continued to pile on the points and turn up the heat defensively with steals and rebounds. A fast-break lay-up by Evans cut BU’s lead to six, 12-6, with 14:30 left in the half. Back-to-back three-point plays completed by redshirt freshman Amber Rockwell (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) and Clark increased Belmont’s lead to nine, 21-12, but a triple by Evans kept the Lady Bucs in the game.

The Bruins rallied to go on a 14-2 run, punctuated by back-to-back treys from Clark and Rockwell and a fast-break lay-up by rookie Tereva Moore (Memphis, Tenn.), to close out the half and take a 46-26 lead into the locker rooms. BU shot a blistering 53.1 percent from the floor and only missed two of its 10 shots from the charity stripe in the first stanza.

The team also shot 50 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Rockwell opened the second half with her second triple of the game and Clark drained her sixth and seventh free throws of the game before East Tennessee came to life, picking up two steals and back-to-back fast break lay-ups by Evans and Nichelle Akers, moving them to within 16, 51-35.

The Bruins called a timeout to regroup and slowed the pace of the game to maintain control. Freshman Shaunda Strayhorn (Dyersburg, Tenn.) nailed a three-pointer from 21-feet out that silenced the ETSU faithful and blew BU’s lead back up to 17. Sharp shooting by Brooke Wilhoit moved the Lady Bucs to within 10 with 7:43 remaining in the game.

As time ticked down to the final minute of regulation, ETSU sent several Bruins to the charity stripe but stayed within striking distance due to the shooting of Kelly Turman and Evans. Free-throw shooting put the contest solidly out of East Tennessee’s grasp as the Bruins cruised to the 78-69 win.

ETSU shot 33.8 percent (27-80) from the floor and a chilly 21.1 percent (4-19) from behind the three-point arc. The Lady Bucs also hit just over 50 percent (11-20) of their shots from the free-throw line. ETSU dominated Belmont in rebounds, 52-42, and held the advantage in steals, 11-8. Two Lady Bucs dropped in 18 points – Kelly Turman and Siarre Evans. Brooke Wilhoit rounds out the double digit scorers, adding 12. A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year Nichelle Akers finished the game with five steals.

Belmont shot 44.6 percent (25-56) from the floor and a hot 78.6 percent (22-28) from the charity stripe. The Bruins also knocked down 40 percent (6-15) of their shots from three-point land. Clark picked up her eighth double-double of the season, netting a season-high 32 points and pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds.She was also a near perfect 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. Rockwell drained a career-high 17 points, including going a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, while Moore also set a new career record of 10 points.