By Carey Phillips
Western Carolina put on a furious rally at the end of regulation Saturday, but East Tennessee pulled out a 90-84 double overtime Southern Conference women’s basketball victory in the regular season finale at the Ramsey Center.
Nevaeh Brown scored 21 points for the Lady Bucs. Kiselle Thomas added 19, followed by Kendall Folley and Journee McDaniel with 14 apiece and Jakhyia Davis with 11.
Kyla Allison pumped in 23 points, and Endia Holliday had a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Cats (9-20, 2-12), who finished last in the league for the second straight year. Mya Love finished with 16 points, and Audrey Meyers had 11.
ETSU led 61-48 on McDaniel’s three-pointer with 7:34 to play in the fourth quarter and was still up 72-64 after Folley’s two foul shots with 31 seconds to go.
Love hit a three-pointer and Allison had a layup after a turnover cutting the gap to 72-69 with 12 seconds left.
Two missed free throws opened the door for Allison’s three-pointer and a 72-72 tie as time expired.
Western led 79-75 following Allison’s two foul shots with 24 seconds to go in the first OT.
Courtney Moore’s three-pointer tied it 80-80 with seven seconds left and sent the game into a second extra period.
Moore’s layup gave the Lady Bucs the lead for good, 82-80, to start the second OT, during which WCU managed to score just four points, all from the foul line.
The Lady Cats led early, but ETSU scored the opening period’s final 12 points, including seven by Folley, for a 22-10 advantage.
The Lady Bucs built the lead to 33-17 on Folley’s basket with 5:39 to play in the half.
Western ended the half on a 9-2 spurt narrowing the deficit to 37-28.
The Lady Cats came as close as 42-38 with eight straight points, capped by Tamori Plantin’s three-point play with 5:30 to play in the third quarter.
ETSU built the lead to 54-42 on Jaileyah Cotton’s free throw at the 1:45 mark and led 56-46 entering the fourth period.
The Lady Bucs shot 46.7 percent from the floor, and WCU made 43.8 percent of its attempts.
The Lady Cats had a 39-34 rebounding edge. Davis topped ETSU with nine.
Western committed 12 turnovers, and the Lady Bucs had nine.
Completing the WCU scoring were Plantin with seven, and Jacey Justice and Zanoria Cruz with three apiece.
