Moments after a 70-61 victory over East Tennessee State last season, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's coach Jim Foster said the Lady Bucs' upcoming inclusion to the Southern Conference was going to be "an interesting additon to our league."
So far, he's been right.
The ETSU women are 5-0 in the SoCon, keeping pace with the 25th-ranked Mocs. The Lady Bucs have a tough weekend ahead, with home games against Samford (4-1) and UTC (6-0).
"This group is very similar to last year," second-year ETSU coach Brittany Ezell said. "It's been able to understand our philosophy, system and a culture we tried to implement. Coming in and bringing in a new staff, changes are difficult, but the girls have bought it."
A key to the program's success so far this season has been not overlooking anybody, which shouldn't be hard for a team back in the conference for the first time in 10 seasons. After the top three teams, along with Mercer and Furman, the other programs -- Western Carolina, Wofford and UNC Greensboro are a combined 1-14.
"I think we're capable of being considered an upper-echelon program in conference, but anybody in this league is capable of catching you," Ezell said. "I try not to divide teams in this conference, even though it's easy to do statistically. Our mission is to win our next game. It's what we try to preach -- that it's not who we play, but how we play."
Players of the Week
Wofford's Karl Cochran and ETSU's Destiny Mitchell were named SoCon Players of the Week. Freshmen of the week honors went to Samford's Christen Cunningham and Western Carolina's Ace Easter.
Mitchell led the Lady Bucs to two conference wins, averaging 15 points and 13 rebounds per game. She shot 56 percent from the field while adding five steals, three assists and three blocks. Cochran averaged 18.5 points, five rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals as the Terriers won both games to move to 7-1 in the conference.
The Lady Catamounts had only one game last week, and Easter had a career-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, with five rebounds, four steals and two assists in the team's 21-point victory over UNC Greensboro.
Cunningham was honored as the conference's top freshman for the third time this season. He averaged 11.5 points and five assists as the Bulldogs won their first two conference games of the season, defeating UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina.
Wilson 1K
East Tennessee State's Lester Wilson went over the 1,000-point mark for his career in the Bucs' 70-59 win over The Citadel last week. The 6-foot-4 junior forward had 11 points as ETSU (12-7, 6-4) split games during the week, falling to Wofford on Saturday.
UTC's Ronrico White is next up on the quest for 1,000 points, as he sits at 966. UNC Greensboro's Kayel Locke is right behind White with 964.
Furman's Holli Wilkins, daughter of former UTC and NBA standouts Gerald Wilkins, has 937 points.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.