GREENVILLE, S.C. – Its five-game winning streak halted with Thursday's 62-54 loss to Chattanooga, Furman's women's basketball team returns to action on Saturday when it welcomes East Tennessee State to Timmons Arena for a 2:00 p.m. Southern Conference clash that will highlight National Girls and Women In Sports Day.
Kids will receive a complimentary ticket to the game and a National Girls and Women In Sports Day t-shirt in the Furman Hall of Honor while supplies last.
Pre-game events including instructional sports clinics and meet and greets with Furman women's teams and student-athletes begin at noon and will take place throughout the concourse. Sports represented include soccer, volleyball, golf, tennis, softball, lacrosse, track & field, and cross county. In addition, representatives from Furman cheer, dance, purple diamonds, and athletic training programs will be stationed throughout the arena.
Kids are also invited for an autograph session with Furman's women's basketball squad.
The Paladins (14-9, 6-2 SoCon) stand alone in second place in the SoCon heading into Saturday's contest against the surging Buccaneers (11-11, 4-3 SoCon), who defeated Wofford, 64-59, in Spartanburg on Thursday. Furman opened SoCon play with a 72-70 win over ETSU in Johnson City on Jan. 8, getting a game winning jump shot from
Alyssa Ervin with 20 seconds to go.
Head coach
Pierre Curtis' squad will hope for better shooting against ETSU than it mustered versus Chattanooga, which saw the Paladins convert just .328 percent of their shots from the field, including only 3-of-15 offerings from 3-point range. Furman also suffered its biggest rebounding deficit of the season (-17) against UTC but countered it to some degree with 24 steals off 29 turnovers by the Mocs, who managed to shoot a solid .468 percent from the field, including 7-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc.
To complete the season sweep of the Bucs and maintain its hold on second place in league play, Furman will need solid play from their top two scorers, sophomores
Clare Coyle (14.3 ppg) and
Alyssa Ervin (13.8 ppg). Coyle, a forward and two-time SoCon Player of the Week pick this year, tops the league in rebounding (9.3 rpg), field goal percentage (.527), and steals (51). Ervin, meanwhile, has proven to be a major addition for the Paladins this year after spending her freshman campaign at Elon. She delivered her second game winning shot of the season last Friday in a 65-64 win over Wofford in Spartanburg.
Furman leads the all-time series with ETSU, 49-27, and is 24-12 in Greenville, though the Bucs won last year's encounter, 72-62, in a game played at North Greenville's Hayes Gym during Timmons Arena's renovation. The Paladins upset East Tennessee State, 64-58, in SoCon Tournament first round action a year ago.
In addition to the ESPN+ live stream, fans can also follow Saturday's action via StatBroadcast live stats and receive timely updates and highlight clips thru @FurmanWBB's "X" account. Links to the livestream and stats are available on Furman's women's basketball schedule page at FurmanPaladins.com.
