JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – ETSU may have come into Sunday afternoon's contest shooting just 18.0 percent from behind the arc, but what they missed in their first two contests, they made up for today, draining 11 3-pointers and burying the Cornell women's basketball team, 66-54, on Sunday afternoon at Brooks Gym in Johnson City, Tenn.
Cornell put four players in double figures in the loss, marking the second time in three games that the Big Red has accomplished this feat. Olivia Snyder and KC Carter led Cornell with 12 points apiece, with the total marking Carter's second career-high in just as many games. Ania McNicholas also posted a career-best for the second-straight game with 11 points and Theresa Grace Mbanefo added 10.
Snyder and McNicholas paced Cornell in the rebounding category as well, both notching a career-high eight boards, with McNicholas notching the team-high in assists with four.
Ahead of Sunday's contest, ETSU relied heavily on its ability to drive to the rim and out-rebound the opposition, as the Bucs came into today shooting roughly 30 percent from the floor, including 18 percent from the 3-point line, and averaging 18.0 offensive rebounds per game. The Big Red kept ETSU at bay on the boards, out-rebounding the Bucs, 31-29, and limiting them to just six offensive rebounds. Cornell also out-scored ETSU in the paint, 28-22, limiting the Bucs' success around the rim.
For the first time this season, however, ETSU found success in a different area of the game, making Cornell pay from behind the arc. The Bucs came out hot and as the game progressed, never fizzled, draining 11 3-pointers and shooting 50.0 percent from deep as compared to Cornell's 28.6 percent from long range.
ETSU's Jaila Roberts (4-of-6) and Damiah Griffin (3-of-4) combined for seven of the Bucs' 11 treys, with Roberts finishing the contest with a game-high 24 points and Griffin scoring 13. Jakhyia Davis was the third and final ETSU student-athlete in double figures with 10.
ETSU scored the first five points of the contest, but freshman Summer Parker-Hall got Cornell going, feeding Mbanefo in the post for a lay-up and capitalizing on an offensive board and put-back to make the score 5-4 in the early going. Cornell struggled offensively in the first quarter, however, shooting only 21.4 percent from the field as compared to ETSU's 46.2 percent, as the Bucs built an early nine point lead, 16-7. A pair of Snyder free throws with four seconds remaining in the quarter cut the deficit to seven, 16-9, through one period of play.
With the Bucs continuing to keep Cornell out of rhythm with their up-tempo, physical style of play, combined with ETSU's 66.7 percent shooting percentage from the floor and 60.0 percent from deep, the Big Red found itself trailing by as many as 10 in the second quarter, 27-17. Carter showed ETSU that they weren't the only ones who could shoot, hitting three 3-pointers in the second half of the quarter to help the Big Red outscore the Bucs, 15-7, in the final 5:28 of the period. Carter accounted for nine of those 15 points, as Cornell trailed by just three at the half, 35-32.
Cornell came out of the half strong, and when ETSU lost the ball less than a minute into the quarter, Mbanefo was there to make the steal and go coast-to-coast for the lay-up to get the Big Red within one, 35-34. The points would be the first of six-straight for Mbanefo, who capitalized on a lay-up on a nice feed from Shannon Mulroy to give Cornell its first lead of the game, 36-35, with 7:51 remaining in the third.
As quickly as it gained the lead, however, the Big Red lost it. ETSU's Jakhyia Davis rattled off five-straight points to give the Bucs the lead back, 40-36. Cornell would score two of the next three buckets on yet another Mbanefo lay-up and a Snyder jumper to get back within two, 42-40, but the Big Red found itself trailing by six, 50-44, at the end of the third.
Mbanefo scored the first points of the fourth quarter on an elbow jumper 15 seconds into the quarter, to get Cornell back within four, 50-46, but ETSU went on an 8-0 run over the next minute and 34 seconds to open up a 12 point lead, 58-46. Cornell couldn't chip away at the lead, going scoreless from 7:09 left in the game until a Carter bucket just under six minutes later. ETSU would go on to the 66-54 victory.
The Cornell women's basketball team will play its final game of a three-game road stand when it travels to nearby Binghamton for a mid-week nonconference clash on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in Vestal, N.Y.
