CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Tyja Beans and Chelsea Wooten both scored 10 points, but Western Carolina women's basketball opened its three-game homestand by suffering a 56-47 defeat to ETSU on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center on Thursday night.
"I thought we gave a great effort for our Black Out tonight in front of a great crowd. Kudos to our marketing and administration for putting that on tonight," said WCU head coach Kiley Hill. "Tonight's game came down to three things, which were turnovers, offensive rebounds, and our inability to execute in the half-court setting, especially in the later stages of the game."
Beans matched her career-best with 10 points as she tied a season-high going 5-of-9 from the field and added four rebounds and a pair of assists. Wooten increased her team lead in threes on Thursday with a pair of triples en route to her 10 points while adding a season-high seven rebounds to pace WCU. Wooten has made 48 3-pointers thus far this season for the Catamounts. Lonasia Brewer finished with eight points, going 4-of-5 in the loss. Audrey Meyers and Zanoria Cruz both dished out three assists.
Nevaeh Brown led ETSU with a game-high 18 points as she connected on three from beyond the arc en route to her point total. Journee McDaniel added 15 points off the bench for ETSU while also pulling down a game-high eight rebounds. Kendall Folley missed double-figures with nine points including 7-of-10 at the charity stripe.
ETSU (14-5, 3-1 SoCon) opened the game quickly with a 5-0 burst before Wooten and Brewer added layups to cut the margin to one halfway through the first stanza. In what continued to be a low-scoring first, ETSU closed on a 9-2 run to claim a 14-6 edge after the opening 10 minutes.
"We made too many mistakes, silly unforced errors that are controllable. You can see our kids are trying hard and maybe a little too hard sometimes, but we must be smarter on the floor," Hill added.
Western Carolina (5-15, 0-5 SoCon) came out quickly in the second quarter with the first five points spearheaded by an early three from Reagan Trumm that cut the guests lead to three, 14-11 with 6:53 to play in the half. The two teams traded 3-pointers before a Beans layup whittled the margin to one before the Bucs used a 7-2 run to stretch the score to 24-18 inside the final two minutes in the half. ETSU and WCU added late points before the Bucs could take a 27-20 lead to the intermission.
The Catamounts began the third quarter on a 7-3 run over the opening three-plus minutes that cut the deficit to three, 30-27. ETSU responded with a quick 6-2 burst to stretch the margin to seven before WCU pushed back with four of the next six before a three inside the final minute from the Bucs led to a 41-33 lead after three quarters.
Brewer tallied a layup in the opening minute of the final 10 minutes, but that would be as close as WCU could make it on Thursday night as ETSU answered with a 13-4 run over the bulk of the fourth quarter to stretch it to a 54-39 score. WCU used the free throw line primarily in the final minute to spur an 8-2 finish before the final buzzer sounded, providing the final of 56-47.
WCU tallied a 37.2% (16-of-43) night from the field and held ETSU to 29.3% (17-of-58) on Thursday. The Bucs connected on seven threes compared to four from the Catamounts. The hosts finished 11-of-14 at the free throw line, while ETSU was 15-of-22 at the stripe. ETSU won the rebounding battle by seven, 40-33, including 17 offensive boards, which the Bucs turned into 12 second-chance points. The Catamounts outscored the Bucs in the paint 24-18 and had a slight edge in bench scoring by one, 20-19, as WCU was led by Brewer, who had eight, and Cruz, who tallied seven points.
The Catamounts continue their three-game homestand on Saturday, Jan. 27, at 2 p.m. on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center against defending league champion Chattanooga. The matchup with the Mocs will be the front end of a doubleheader as the men's team battles VMI at 5 p.m. Chattanooga improved to 16-3, 4-0 in conference play on Thursday with a 73-55 road victory over UNCG and currently rank 17th in the latest CollegeInsider Women's Mid-Major poll.
Saturday will be WCU Women's Basketball Alumni Day and "Pack the RAC" for both teams. The matchup with the Mocs will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats and live audio provided by the Catamount Sports Network available on CatamountSports.com.
"It's another tough test on Saturday against another good team in this league, and we have to match the effort and execution," said Hill. "We've got about 40 alums coming in and we want to be able to put on a strong show for them against a good Chattanooga team."
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