Lady Bucs get  best of Radford

By DALLAS COOK
STAR Staff

   JOHNSON CITY -- Losing to Florida State and Akron earlier this week, the East Tennessee State University Lady Buccaneers hoped to rebound and get their first win of the season over the visiting Radford Lady Highlanders.
   After a disappointing first half, the Buccaneers (1-3) turned it on defensively to defeat the Highlanders (1-4) by the final score of 90-78.
   "Defensively we didn't play well," said ETSU coach Karen Kemp. "We can't afford to give up 78 points every night, so that's an area that we definitely need to concentrate on and prepare for our conference games."
   East Tennessee State trailed 40-34 with less than a minute left to play in the half, but a strong showing by Megan Jackson and Ashley Reed pulled the Buccaneers to within 42-39 going into the locker room.
   The Buccaneers made some adjustments after halftime and made it a game as they took a 57-56 lead halfway through the second half.
   "We did make some adjustments at halftime," said Kemp. "We knew they could shoot the ball so we told our guards that they had to cover them up. We did a much better job in the second half."
   With 9:07 left to play Radford tied things up at 62-62 but Jackson put the Buccaneers back on top with a jump shot to make it 64-62 and East Tennessee State never looked back.
   Misty Copas gave the Buccaneers a six point lead with a basket and Reed hit five crucial free throws to give her team some cushion as they went on to knock off the Highlanders 90-78.
   "Those were big," said Kemp of Reed's free throws. "We've done a poor job this season shooting free throws. Ashley is our best free throw shooter so for her to step up and hit those at that time was definitely big for us."
   Offensively for the Buccaneers Reed led all scores with 21 points while Jackson finished with 16 points. Erin Thurman (13 pts), Summer Jones (11 pts) and Lauren Trantham (15 rebounds) also performed strong for East Tennessee State.
   "Summer played well this past weekend in Tallahassee and she had another good game tonight," Kemp said. "Ashley Reed came off the bench to be our leading scorer so it's good to see our freshman step it up."
   Amanda Neby was tops for Radford as she netted 20 points and led the team in rebounds with 12 while Kylie Williamson totaled 22 points for the Highlanders.
   The Buccaneers will be in action again on Dec. 5 as they travel to Wofford to take on the Lady Terriers in Southern Conference play.