Johnson City Times

The ETSU women’s basketball program is riding a three-game win streak into its second home game of the season, as the Bucs will host Morehead State on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. inside Brooks Gym.

Sunday’s game will close out a two-game home stand, as ETSU plays six of its first eight games away from Brooks Gym. Sunday’s game will also be the final test before the Bucs fly out to Las Vegas for the UNLV Thanksgiving MTE set for Nov. 25-27.

  

MATCHUP

Sunday, Nov. 20 – ETSU vs. Morehead State – 2:00 p.m. / ESPN+ / Live Stats / Tickets

Broadcast Team: Keith Brake (play-by-play), Bruce Tranbarger (analyst)

 

ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU enters with a 3-1 record following a thrilling 55-54 win in Thursday’s home opener against Jacksonville State. With a one-point lead with under three seconds to go, ETSU inbounded to a wide-open Courtney Moore (Gainesville, Fla.) who ran out the clock to win it.
• The Bucs are enjoying their first three-game win streak since March 2, 2019.
• ETSU and Western Carolina are the first Southern Conference teams to reach three wins this season.
• The Bucs are seeking their first 4-1 start since the 2017-18 campaign, where ETSU defeated Cincinnati, Appalachian State, Tennessee Tech and Duquesne and lost to nationally-ranked Tennessee.
• Graduate transfer Jiselle Thomas (Norwalk, Ohio) has led the Blue in Gold in scoring in every outing, including the exhibition against Mars Hill. Through four games, Thomas is averaging 20.0 points per game to rank fourth in the Southern Conference.
• Thomas scored her 1,000th career point in the season opener against No. 1 South Carolina. She was also just two points shy of a career-high in the St. Bonaventure game, finishing with 32 points. Her career-high of 34 was set in her junior season at Florida International.
• ETSU is led by first year Coach Brenda Mock Brown, who took over in August and has guided the Bucs to a 3-1 record through four games. The JSU win was the 120th win of her career.
• Prior to ETSU, Coach Mock spent eight seasons at UNC Asheville from 2012-20. Mock took the Bulldogs from a two-win team her first season into a back-to-back conference championship winner by her fourth and fifth seasons. She will look to double that UNCA first season win total at ETSU with a win tomorrow.
• Sophomore Kendall Folley (Lebanon, Ohio) has started at the point the last three games. Folley moved up to second on the team in scoring at 6.7 PPG after scoring nine points against JSU. She also had six rebounds to match a career-high set last season while at Oakland University.
• Transitioning from guard to post, graduate Jayla Ruffus-Milner (North Hills, Calif.) leads the team with 7.3 rebounds per game.
• True freshman Journee McDaniel (New Bern, N.C.) has been steady in all aspects of the game, starting the last three games alongside two sophomores and two graduates. McDaniel is averaging 5.5 PPG and 5.5 RPG.
• Folley, Thomas, Moore, Ruffus-Milner and McDaniel have all started the last three games.
• Sophomore post Jakhyia Davis (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the team in rebounding her last time out with nine, moving her season-average to 6.5 per game off the bench. She also averaged 4.8 PPG.
• Sophomore transfer Nevaeh Brown (Charlotte, N.C.) has been a key player off the bench, scoring a career-high 13 points in the win over St. Bonaventure and adding a career-high five assists in the win over Jacksonville State.
• This season, ETSU will seek its first winning campaign and postseason appearance since 2018, where the team finished 20-13 overall, 11-3 in the SoCon and with an appearance in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). ETSU has made three NCAA tournament appearances all-time (2008, 2009, 2010) and four WNIT appearances (1995, 2006, 2014, 2018).

 

ABOUT THE EAGLES

• Morehead State enters with an 0-3 record with road losses to South Florida, Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky.
• The Eagles will end a four-game road stretch in Johnson City on Sunday and will return to Morehead for five-straight home contests.
• Second year head coach Cayla Petree leads the Eagles in hopes of a rebuild following a 1-27 record last season. Morehead State seeks its first winning season since 2018-19, where it finished 24-11 overall and with a WNIT first round win over Ohio State.
• Senior Veronica Charles leads the Eagles with 10.3 PPG, including 20 points in the team’s last outing against EKU.
• Junior Crystal Corley is averaging 7.7 rebounds per contest to lead on the boards, including 10 in the EKU game.

 

SERIES HISTORY

• ETSU and Morehead State will meet for the 12th time on Sunday.
• ETSU leads the all-time series with a slim 6-5 advantage.
• The last meeting took place on December 15, 2014 in Morehead, as the Bucs won 86-77. Buccaneer legend Tianna Tarter had 17 points, seven assists and four triples in that win.
• The first meeting took place in 1978.
• ETSU has a 4-3 record against MSU in Johnson City.

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