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Lady Bucs seeded 13th in Berkeley Region, will meet Iowa State in first round

Published March 16th, 2009 | 0 Comments

JOHNSON CITY — After getting a taste of the NCAA tournament last year, the East Tennessee State women’s basketball team wants to hang around a little longer this time.

The Lady Bucs will face Iowa State in the first round Sunday at 7 p.m. in Bowling Green, Ky. ETSU (20-10) was seeded 13th in the Berkeley Region.

Iowa State (24-8) is the fourth seed.

“Last year we were thrilled to be there,” ETSU coach Karen Kemp said. “It was the first time in the history of the school. And now we want to go and make some noise and win games.”

Last year, in its first NCAA appearance, ETSU lost 85-73 in the first round to Oklahoma State.

Kemp and her players joined the team’s supporters at Fanatic’s for a selection party on Monday night. As the tournament’s pairings were revealed, the tension mounted.

After earning the Atlantic Sun Conference’s automatic bid, the Lady Bucs figured to be somewhere between a 13th and 15th seed. But after seeing what happened to the men’s team a day earlier — a 16th seed — they weren’t taking anything for granted.

When the pairing was finally announced, it drew a cheer from the crowd. And the Lady Bucs seemed pleased with the matchup.

“The first thing on my mind was I wanted to play a team we had a chance to beat,” ETSU forward Latisha Belcher said. “We know we can win this one. Any team you put us against, we’re going to show our determination. This gives us a lot of confidence.”

Iowa State, ranked 17th in the latest Associated Press poll, has three players averaging in double figures, none more than Heather Ezell’s 11.8 points a game. The Cyclones were 15-1 at home, 9-7 away from Ames, Iowa. They lost 63-57 to Baylor in the Big 12 semifinals.

The two teams had one common opponent. Iowa State beat Vanderbilt 55-51.

ETSU lost to the Commodores 66-55.

“I was ready to see who we played,” ETSU guard TaRonda Wiles said. “I was kind of happy it wasn’t UConn. I think we can play with Iowa State.”

Should the Lady Bucs win, they would face the winner of Tennessee and Ball State on Tuesday night.

ETSU played a difficult non-conference schedule, falling to Wake Forest, Georgia and Vanderbilt. The defining non-conference win — the one that likely helped the Lady Bucs get a 13th seed — was a 59-50 decision at Kentucky.

“I think that was a big part of it,” Kemp said. “That was my goal when I made that schedule a year ago. If we got to this point that the committee would take that into consideration. I really feel like when they sat down, they looked at that.”

Even before the pairings were announced, ETSU’s Siarre Evans, the A-Sun’s player of the year and the tournament’s MVP, had a scouting report on Iowa State. She had seen an online projected bracket that had the two teams matched up, so she started to do her homework.

“I know they shoot a lot of 3s,” Evans said. “We know we’re going to have to defend the 3.”

Kemp laughed when told of Evans’ early game planning.

“Siarre, she thinks she has a scouting report on everybody,” Kemp said. “But you know what? Any time there’s a women’s basketball game going on, she’s watching. She’s texting me all the time ... ‘Coach, if we get Iowa State we can get them.’ She was telling me that this morning. She does her homework.”

Evans said playing in last year’s NCAA tournament has the Lady Bucs better prepared this time.

“We’re on a mission,” she said. “We know what to expect this year. We’re more comfortable and we’re more experienced.”

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