East Tennessee State University’s women’s basketball team secured a 58-51 win over Mercer on Thursday in Macon, Georgia. With this result, ETSU improved its record to 16-12 overall and 9-4 in the Southern Conference (SoCon), marking the second time under the current head coach that the team has reached nine conference victories.
The Buccaneers have now won nine of their last ten games and remain in contention for a share of the SoCon Regular Season title. The possibility of a three-way tie exists if Chattanooga and Wofford each lose one more game and ETSU defeats Samford in their final regular season matchup.
A graduate guard led ETSU’s scoring with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, and one steal. She converted 10 out of 12 free throws, including eight in the final quarter to help secure the win. She now has made 287 free throws in her four-year career and is just 32 points away from reaching 1,000 career points.
Junior guard Daniela Lopez contributed 15 points—her ninth double-digit scoring game this season and second consecutive contest achieving this mark. Lopez shot six-for-13 from the field and three-for-six from three-point range while adding five rebounds, four assists, and one steal. She scored ten points in the first quarter to set an early pace for her team.
A sophomore forward posted a career-high two blocks along with seven rebounds, five points, and one steal. Another sophomore guard added eight points—including two three-pointers—four assists, one rebound, and one steal.
Eight out of ten players who saw action for ETSU scored multiple points; nine collected at least one rebound. In the second quarter alone, eight of nine players contributed at least two points each as ETSU built a strong halftime lead.
ETSU finished with 58 points, 38 rebounds, 12 assists, four steals, and two blocks. The team outscored Mercer by twelve points in the paint (26-14) and by five on fast breaks (13-8).
The Buccaneers will close out their regular season against Samford at Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
