Tuesday, February 23, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.  – After suffering a seven-point loss to USC Upstate back in January, the ETSU women’s basketball team was destined to get revenge and protect its home floor in the rematch on Monday night.

The Lady Bucs did just that, as seniors Siarre Evans (Griffin, Ga.) and TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) helped ETSU cap off a perfect home record with its 88-67 victory over the Spartans on Senior Day inside the MSHA Athletic Center.

Evans recorded her 50th career double-double (17th of the season) with her 10-point, 18-rebound effort; while Wiles flirted with a triple-double. The Danville, Va. native finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists in 34 minutes of action.

With the win, this Lady Buccaneer team became the first to win each home game inside the Dome (11-0) and improved to 18-8, 16-2 in Atlantic Sun play – keeping them a half-game behind Florida Gulf Coast in the conference standings. Meanwhile, Upstate saw its four-game winning streak come to a halt, as the Spartans dipped to 18-9, 12-6. Ironically, the Lady Bucs now become fans of Upstate, as FGCU closes out conference action with the Spartans on Thursday in Spartanburg, S.C.

“It is tough and it’s going to really hit once the season is over; that Siarre and TaRonda won’t be back playing on this floor ever again,” added head coach Karen Kemp. “But right now – just like they said – we have games to take care of and try to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Once we do that, we can let those emotions really fly. Right now we are just trying to stay focused on winning ball games, and reach our goal for another conference championship. We become big fans of Upstate and we will be cheering really, really hard for them against FGCU. However, with that said, as long as we go to Jacksonville and take care of business, we know we at least clinch a share of the regular season title.

“Going undefeated at home is special and we talked about that before the game. We talked about them being the first team to be able to win every game inside the Dome, so that was an area we focused on. This was a special accomplishment, because it is rare to win every home game in a season. This team is special – especially this senior class – they definitely will be missed, but hopefully we get six or seven more ballgames with TaRonda and Siarre.”