Photo taken by Chris Lang ETSU’s Sadasia Tipps jumps against WCU’s Tembra Moates Thursday night at the Ramsey Center.
The Catamount’s defensive struggles continue as the Cats now have dropped three straight after Thursday night’s loss against the visiting Lady Buccaneers at the Ramsey Center. Cats fall 72-55 to the Bucs.
The Catamounts dug themselves into a deep hole early and couldn’t recover. The Bucs took advantage of a poor shooting performance by the Cats in the first quarter and were able to put up 18 points to the Cats 9. ETSU’s senior guard, Shamauria Bridges, put up an offensive clinic in the first half and was able to score 16 of the Bucs 34 points. The Catamounts did end the half with a high note as junior forward, Sherae Bonner, hit a three at the buzzer.
“We allowed their three-point shooters to get their three-point shots they got in transition and just not really taking anything away from them and then we got down ourselves and couldn’t score and just kept compiling of itself,” said WCU’s head coach, Stephanie McCormick. She also added that it was just a tough start especially in the first quarter.
Photo taken by Chris Lang. ETSU’s Shamauria Bridges assisting teammate Tianna Tarter who nails a three in Thursday Nights game.
The second half was the same story as the Catamounts were not able to get their shots to drop and had little answer for the offensive onslaught by the Buccaneers. The Lady Buccaneers kept their foot on the gas as they continued to drive up the score to a 23 point lead in the fourth quarter.
The Bucs were able to dominate the paint outrebounding the Cats 40-25. The Buccaneers had 4 players scoring double digits. Raven Dean and Shamauria Bridges lead the the team in scoring both at 18 points. WCU’s Julia Brown was the only player on the team to reach double digits recording 10 points in the Thursday night’s loss.
“We need to improve on our turnovers and our rebounding,” said WCU’s junior forward, Julia Brown.
The Catamounts hope to end their three game losing streak at home against a tough Chattanooga squad, who is coming off their own loss to UNC Greensboro, on Saturday, Feb 18, at 2 p.m. in the Ramsey Center. “It’s going to come down to mental toughness and we are going to see just how mentally tough this team is to bounce back from tonight’s game”, said coach McCormick.
“To get the win Saturday we need to fight harder than Chattanooga and if we want it more, take care of the ball and rebound we will win,” said Brown.
Saturday’s game will be the “Play4Kay” breast cancer awareness game and plan on wearing pink to show your support.
