JOHNSON CITY, TENN. -- Tierra Hodges scored a career high 29 points, including 17 in the second half, to power Furman past East Tennessee State, 62-51, in Southern Conference basketball regular season finale action for both teams Saturday afternoon at Brooks Gym.

Furman (17-11, 10-4 SoCon), which fashioned an 11-4 mark over its final 15 regular season games to post its highest league win tally since 2014, will take the No. 3 seed into next Thursday's Ingles Southern Conference Tournament at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville and play the No. 6 seed, which will be Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, or UNC Greensboro, in a 5:45 p.m. contest.

The victory completed Furman's season sweep of East Tennessee State (6-21, 5-9 SoCon) and marked the Paladins' seventh consecutive triumph over the Buccaneers.

Hodges tallied 11 points in the first half before exploding on the Bucs for 17 over the game's final 20 minutes for her new career high tally, topping the previous best of 28 notched in wins over Charleston Southern and Samford earlier this season.  The fifth-year senior forward connected on 9-of-18 shots and was a perfect 11-of-11 at the free throw line.  She also claimed 14 rebounds in playing all 40 minutes to register her SoCon leading 18th double-double (points-rebounds) this year and 52nd unique double of her career.

Grace van Rij was the only other Paladin in double figures with 11 points.  Tate Walters chipped in eight points and contributed seven assists to give her 105 for the season — tops in the SoCon.

East Tennessee State, coming off Thursday's 70-64 win over Wofford, blitzed the Paladins with 3-pointers in the first quarter, connecting on 5-of-6 treys to take a 19-9 lead.

Furman answered in the second quarter, opening the period with an 8-0 run and tying it up 29-29 heading into intermission.

The Paladins trailed 32-31 early in the third quarter when Walters' found Niveya Henley open in transition behind ETSU's defense for a layup that gave the Paladins the lead they would never relinquish.

A 9-0 run over a two-minute span highlighted by two Hodges baskets and a Walters 3-pointer pushed Furman's advantage to 48-37 late in third quarter.

ETSU got within 51-44 three minutes into the fourth quarter, but Hodges put the kibosh on any Buccaneer comeback with layups on the Paladins' next two possessions, the second following her own steal, for a 55-44 advantage.

The Bucs outshot the Paladins 40.0 percent to 37.5 percent from the field, but the inside combination of van Rij and Hodges proved too much for ETSU and sent Furman to the free throw line, where the Paladins converted 17-of-19 chances and outscored the Bucs by 15 points.

Furman also outrebounded ETSU, 39-26.

Jakhyia Davis paced the Buccaneers with 13 points.