Thursday, January 08, 2009

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Four Lady Buccaneer players scored in double figures and the ETSU women’s basketball team used a solid second-half to rally past Florida Gulf Coast, 75-67, delivering head coach Karen Kemp her 200th career victory Thursday night inside Alico Arena.

Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) scored a game-high 18 points and collected five rebounds and four steals, while fellow junior Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.) finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in 40 minutes of action. TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) came through in a big way in the second half, as she scored all 10 of her points in the final 20 minutes and grabbed seven rebounds. Rounding out the Lady Buccaneer scoring attack was the play of sophomore point guard Tara Davis (Murfreesboro, Tenn.). Davis pitched in with 11 points off the bench, including a key stretch in the second half where she scored five points in two seconds to give ETSU some breathing room.

The special win for coach Kemp lifts the Lady Bucs to the .500 mark for the first time this season, with ETSU moving to 6-6, 4-1 in A-Sun play. The Eagles suffered their second straight loss and drop to 9-4, 2-3.

In the first half, ETSU opened up with four unanswered points two minutes into the contest, but the Eagles quickly responded with a 5-0 run to grab a 5-4 lead at the 16:52 mark. Four straight points by Gwen Washington (Manassas, Va.) put the Lady Bucs back up, but a 13-4 run by FGCU gave them momentum and an 18-12 advantage. The 3-point shot and ETSU foul trouble sparked the rally, as the Eagles drained three treys during the blitz; while Washington and Wiles each tallied two fouls in the first six minutes.

The Lady Bucs weren’t bothered by the spurt, as they quickly put the pressure back on the Eagles by regaining the lead (25-21) with a 13-3 run of its own from the 10-minute mark to 6:39 remaining in half. The run was a well-balanced attack, with five different ETSU players scoring during the frenzy.