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The Cincinnati Bearcats women’s basketball team make their 2017-2018 regular season debut this Friday night in Johnson City, Tennessee at 7 PM.
The Bearcats hit the road for a non-conference matchup with the East Tennessee State (ETSU) Pirates.
Audio of the game will be available on GoBearcats.com
The Pirates, who play in the Southern Conference, finished 16-14 last season. They posted an 8-8 conference record and were eliminated in the SoCon quarterfinals by Samford.
ETSU is coached by Brittney Ezell, who enters her fifth season at the helm in Johnson City. She has guided the steady Pirates to four consecutive winning seasons.
The Pirates are a young team. They have only two seniors on their roster (guard Tianna Tarter and forward Malloree Schurr), who serve as the team’s captains. Tarter is ETSU’s undisputed leader on the floor and one of the SoCon’s top returning players. She averaged nearly 20 points per game in 2016-2017.
Cincinnati’s backcourt, which looked strong in its exhibition debut against the University of Findlay, will have its collective hands full trying to keep Tarter in check. Look at the Ana Owens versus Tarter matchup as the key to this non-conference tilt.