Lady Pirate Basketball Downs USCS
November 16, 2002 | Women's Basketball
?I think we did some good things today,? said ECU Head Coach Sharon Baldwin, ?and we went lax on some other things. We out-rebounded them by almost 40 (61-23), which is really impressive considering that we just outrebounded a team that was bigger than them by just two. (Meaning the Basketball Travellers. ECU outrebounded that team 38-36). We definitely have been working on that and I think we did a better job today.?
USCS took the first four points of the game for a 4-0 lead before ECU earned its first mark on the afternoon off of a layup by Willis. The two points would send ECU on a 14-0 scoring run during which, they took the 5-4 lead on a Tali Robich three pointer. The Lady Pirates maintained their lead throughout the half, going up by as much as 23 with 5:21 remaining. USCS would go on to score 20 points in the first half of play, cutting the Pirate lead to 19 at the break. Willis ended the half with 12 points, and Jackson had six point and six rebounds, while the Lady Rifles? Stephanie Feyes scored 11 of the 20 points tallied by the visiting team.
East Carolina came out on fire in the second half, never allowing the lead to drop below 19 points. The first two baskets in the second were scored on fast breaks by Willis and Jackson. At the 8:11 mark, Lady Rifle Kia Manual fouled out and Shanita Sutton added two more points to the board to give the Pirates the 57-36 lead. At that point, the women would go on a 19-5 scoring run to win the game by 35 points, 76-41.
?At this point of the season, we have got to stay focused and make sure we take care of things because there is so much stuff we need to work on and get better at. That is one reason we went to the zone defense back towards the end of the game.?
The Lady Pirates forced 32 turnovers in the game and had 25 of their own. The women shot 41.3 percent from the floor and 68.8 percent from the free throw line. Willis was a prefect 4-for-4 in free throws.
?(Forcing 32 turnovers) is pretty good,? said Baldwin. ?But we had 25 and I?m not real happy with that. Some of that was pushing the ball up and down the floor, a lot of those were careless or bad passes or bad catches, both of which we have got to take care of.?
Willis ended the afternoon with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Jackson had 10 of each. Sutton notched nine points and Robich and Alisha Bishop each had eight/ Newcomer LaToya Horton led the rookies in rebounds with eight, she also had six points.
?We need to improve on everything before we play Duke next week,? commented Baldwin. ?One thing is, hopefully we will box out, rebound and be aggressive. We really have got to be aggressive next Friday and you have got to be better at everything when you are playing the number one team in the country.?
The Lady Pirates will open up the regular season next Friday night. November 22 in Durham, N.C. when they take on No. 1 Duke. The game is set for a 7 p.m. start at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
