Date Posted: 1/28/2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Jan. 28, 2008) – Senior Michele DeVault (Columbus, Ohio) drained a career-high six threes and the ETSU women’s basketball team moved into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Sun standings after knocking off Jacksonville, 80-74, snapping what was the nation’s second longest home winning streak at 17 games Monday afternoon inside Swisher Gymnasium.

With the victory, the Lady Buccaneers move to the .500 mark (10-10), but more importantly jump to 6-1 in the conference; while Jacksonville saw its program-record 10-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 16-4, 6-1. The loss marked the Dolphins first defeat at home since falling to Niagara back on Dec. 18, 2006 and their first conference loss since Feb. 25, 2006 (Belmont).

DeVault lifted ETSU in the first half as she scored 14 points and hit four of the Lady Bucs’ five threes (she opened 4-of-4). ETSU shot 42.9 percent (15-35) for the half, and Jacksonville finished at 40.6 (13-32). Both teams shot the ball well from long range as they combined to go 8-of-13 (61.5 percent). The Lady Bucs held a slight rebounding advantage, 20-18, as sophomore’s Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) and Devin Thompson (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) each grabbed four. The Lady Buccaneer defense shut down Ashley Williams, the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year candidate, as she was limited to four points and three rebounds after the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, Jacksonville came out and took advantage of some ETSU errors, cutting the lead to 39-35, with 18:31 left in the contest. However, the Lady Buccaneers responded as they scored 12 of the next 14 points to push their lead to 10, 47-37, forcing the Dolphins to call their first time out. ETSU was fueled by DeVault’s fifth trey (tying her career high) and Evans’ first bomb of the day. The Lady Bucs continued pushing it and moved their lead to 12, 53-41, when TaRonda Wiles (Danville, Va.) found Belcher for a lay-up. Then, DeVault continued to make it rain threes, as she nailed her sixth of the game; putting ETSU ahead, 56-45 with 13:11 remaining.

For the game, the Lady Buccaneers shot 46.6 percent (27-58) from the floor, compared to Jacksonville’s 44.3 clip (27-61). The Lady Buccaneers hit a season-high nine three-points and out-rebounded the Dolphins, 34-33. Belcher led the team with eight rebounds and pitched in seven points (3-of-3 from the free throw line). ETSU finished 17-of-24 from the charity stripe (70.8 percent) and only trailed once in the contest when JU took an early 2-0 lead at the 19:12 mark. The trio of Nichelle Akers (Sumter, S.C.), Wiles and Belcher went 7-of-7 from the line.

For more information on ETSU women’s hoops, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

Related Links:
 • ETSU-JU Box Score
 • Full Story at ETSUBucs.com