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The Bucs faced the Spartans early Thursday, and dominated to advance to Friday’s contest. Meanwhile, Samford rallied late on Thursday and got the win against Wofford to move up to Friday’s Semifinals. Samford started this tournament as a 6 seed, and upset 3 seed Wofford in a 59-57 in a shootout Thursday evening. During regular season play, ETSU won out both contests 53-44 and 46-39.
First Half
Slow start, both Bucs and Bulldogs remained scoreless for almost 2 whole minutes, until a foul from Godbolt. Lopez for The Bucs scored a much needed 3, but Samford returned the points, and then some leading 7-4 with 3:22 left in the 1st Quarter. The Bucs weren’t able to make baskets and kept fouling the Bulldogs, allowing 4 points alone from FT’s. The First Quarter ended with Samford up 11-8.
Second Quarter started with back to back 3’s from Lyons, which was met by a 3 from Samford. Samford and ETSU traded 3’s, bringing the score to 20-17 Samford at 6:10 in the 2nd. More back and forth and some fouls between put Samford up 27-19 at 2:39. A FG from Richardson brought ETSU up to 27-21, and both teams remained scoreless through the rest of the quarter.
Overall, The Bucs in the First Half went 28% for FG’s, 31% for 3’s, and 33% for FT’s. With 9 turnovers, 16 rebounds, and 5 steals, the Bucs could definitely shift their attention to offense. This adjusted focus would help in overcoming the Samford defense to bridge the gap and come out ahead in the Second Half.
Second Half
A slow start for The Bucs in the 3rd Quarter, only gaining 5 points to Samford’s 10. ETSU had a scoring drought in the 3rd, for 2:44 seconds at 5:04. Nelson and Richardson brought the bulk of the points for The Bucs with 5 each. The Bucs got outscored by 8 points in the 3rd, ending the quarter 47-33.
In the 4th Quarter, The Bucs made major efforts towards the end of the contest, ending a drought of missed 3’s with buckets from Hood, Harper and Lopez in the final minutes. The Bucs defense did keep The Bulldogs at bay by keeping them from scoring in the final 4:23 of the contest.
The Bucs ended this contest with a 57-48 loss, eliminating them and sending them home to Johnson City. Stats wise, this was overwhelmingly one of ETSU’s worst games this year. Team highs for ETSU were Daniela Lopez (13 points), Meghan Downing (7 rebounds), and Anala Nelson (2 assists). However, The Bucs went 17-60 for FG’s, 7-31 for 3’s, and 7-10 for FT’s. The Bucs were outrebounded (34 to Samford’s 37), had lower assists (6 to Samford’s 10), and more fouls called (17 to Samford’s 16).
This could be the conclusion of ETSU’s post season run, unless The Bucs get an invitation to dance later this month. As tough as a loss like this is, this could be a new chapter for ETSU.
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