Friday, March 04, 2011

MACON, Ga. – No. 3 seed Jacksonville cleared the second hurdle in its quest for a first-ever A-Sun women’s basketball championship by knocking off top-seed ETSU, 61-59, in a semifinal match-up at the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference Championship.

The Dolphins (15-16) upset-win means that the A-Sun will not have a repeat champion, ending the Lady Bucs (19-12) run of titles at three-straight. JU will take on the winner of the game between No. 2 Stetson and No. 6 Belmont in Saturday’s championship game at noon.

ETSU had beaten Jacksonville for its first two titles in both 2008 and 2009.

JU attacked ETSU early, hitting 48 percent (14-30) from the floor in the first half and also forcing the Lady Bucs into 24 percent half shooting (8-33). The Dolphins carried a 34-23 advantage into the locker room. ETSU rallied, however, in the second half behind the efforts Latisha Belcher and Tara Davis, who finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively. The teams locked horns down the stretch and swapped leads but, in the end, it was JU who withstood the Lady Bucs run.

The Dolphins were led by Gigi Thomas’ 13 points. Taneskei Richardson and Crystal Bell each tallied 11 points to round out JU’s scoring leaders. Lynsey Paschal had eight points and tied for game-high rebound honors with nine boards. Davis had seven assists, as well. ETSU’s Gwen Washington also had nine caroms, along with 11 points, in the loss.

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