Johnson City, Tenn. – East Tennessee State hit 12 3-pointers and used a solid defensive performance to defeat Western Carolina 71-33 in Southern Conference women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon from Brooks Gymnasium.
Freshman Tyja Beans pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds as she also set a benchmark on the defensive glass with eight defensive rebounds. Jada Burton matched her season-high with eight rebounds, setting a new season-best with all eight on the defensive end. Burton also tallied a team-high five assists for her 16th game of the year with four or more assists.
Lonasia Brewer led the Catamounts in scoring with eight points, adding six rebounds with four offensive rebounds. Tyra Robinson added six points in 12 minutes off the bench.
Brecken Snotherly led three ETSU players in double figures with a game-high 14 points, making 6-of-11 field goals and adding four rebounds. Nevaeh Brown and Journee McDaniel both finished with 13 points for the hosts. McDaniel did it on 5-of-8 field goals and added a team-high seven rebounds, while Brown went 5-of-8, connecting on three 3-pointers. Brown also led the Bucs with seven assists.
ETSU (18-9, 7-5 SoCon) came out of the gates fast, scoring the game's first nine points to gain the early edge in the contest. WCU closed to within seven with a pair of baskets before a pair of ETSU threes quickly made it 17-4.
Robinson and Chelsea Wooten converted on back-to-back possessions before the hosts connected on back-to-back free throws to make it 19-8 late in the quarter. Robinson and Love helped chip away at the deficit before a Bucs's three at the buzzer made it 22-12 after one quarter.
ETSU kept the pressure up in the second quarter as the teams traded layups in the opening 90 seconds before ETSU scored the final 14 points of the quarter, making it a 38-14 advantage for ETSU after 20 minutes. The two teams combined for just 18 points in the second 10-minute stretch, 16 by the home squad.
The Bucs opened the third quarter with a 9-4 burst that stretched the lead to 27, 47-20 at the halfway point. WCU worked to chip away at the deficit, but ETSU scored eight of the final 12 points in the stanza to make it 55-26 after three quarters of play.
ETSU began the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run to push it out to the biggest lead of the afternoon as the hosts claimed the 71-33 SoCon victory on Saturday.
Western Carolina (6-22, 1-12 SoCon) was held to 29.1% (16-of-55) shooting, while ETSU posted a 45.8% (27-of-59) shooting performance. The Bucs made 12 threes compared to just one from WCU. Neither team often visited the free throw line on Saturday with the Bucs making 5-of-6 as the Catamounts missed their three tries from the charity stripe.
The Catamounts won the rebounding battle on Saturday by seven, 40-33, which included 16 on the offensive glass which is the best performance WCU has had on the offensive glass during SoCon play this season. ETSU forced 22 Catamount turnovers and turned them into 27 points. WCU had a slight edge in points in the paint at 26-20, while ETSU won the bench, scoring at 42-15.
The Catamounts close out their 2023-24 regular season on Saturday, March 2, with a 2 p.m. tip against UNCG at Fleming Gymnasium in Greensboro. The matchup with the Spartans will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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