Lady Bisons end season in A-Sun semifinals

Atlantic Sun Press Release  |  03/07/2008

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - East Tennessee State scored 45 points off 31 Lipscomb turnovers in a convincing 84-64 victory on Friday afternoon to advance to the final of the 2008 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championships, where they will face the second-seeded Jacksonville Dolphins.

Michele DeVault led the Lady Bucs with 23 points. Photo courtesy of ASunPhotos

The 20-point difference in the final score is the largest margin of victory in an A-Sun tournament game for the Lady Bucs (20-11), and the worst defeat for the Lady Bisons. ETSU has eliminated Lipscomb in the A-Sun tournament the past two seasons and has won five in a row against the Lady Bisons overall.

The top three-point shooter in the A-Sun, ETSU's Michelle DeVault, made good on 5-of-11 from distance to come within one of tying a career-high. She led the charge for the Lady Bucs with a game-high 23 on 8-of-16 shooting. Latisha Belcher went 7-of-10 from the field for 17 points, and led the defense with six of the team's 19 steals.

Lipscomb's Jilian Partin came up one rebound shy of a double-double with 17 points and nine boards to lead the Lady Bisons. Katie Rollins also had a solid performance, putting up 13 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Lipscomb has lost five-straight to ETSU overall, with their last victory coming on Feb. 3, 2007.

Trailing by eight early in the second half, Catie Woods knocked down one of her four three-pointers on the night to bring Lipscomb within five, 43-38. That was as close as the Lady Bisons (10-22) would come. For the next six minutes ETSU went on a 20-4 run that put the game out of reach.

The championship game of the A-Sun tournament will be held on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT. This will be first time in six years that the top-two seeds will face one another in the final.