Lady Pirates Get Big Win Over UNC Wilmington 70-60
December 13, 2003 | Women's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- The East Carolina women's basketball team recorded its fifth win of the season and third straight at home as they defeated instate rival and former CAA foe UNC Wilmington, 70-60, Saturday night inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
ECU (5-3) had three scorers in double figures, led by senior Courtney Willis' 27 points. Willis was 10-of-14 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the line on the night. She became the 18th Lady Pirate in school history to score 1,000 points in a career.
"Courtney took some good shots in the paint tonight," said head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener. It seemed that the offense came to her tonight, and she was able to get a lot of things done under the basket and at the free throw line." Fellow Lady Pirates Viola Cooper, who scored a career-high 13 points, and Jennifer Jackson with 10 points, joined Willis in scoring double figures. Cooper was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and tied a career-high for rebounds with five.
The Lady Pirates got behind when Jennifer Kapper hit her first of four three-pointers on the night to give the Seahawks (2-3) an early, 5-0, lead. But ECU stormed back behind consecutive baskets by Willis, and a 16-foot jumper from Cooper to give the Lady Pirates a, 12-8 lead, with 12:54 remaining in the half. Kapper would finish with a team-high 19 points for UNCW.
Both teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half, until Donta Davis hit a 12-foot jumper with less than a second left to tie the game at 31-31, going into the intermission.
In the second half, ECU started to find its rhythm when they opened up with a 14-6 run to extend its lead to eight points, 45-37, at the 13:10 mark. But a foul by sophomore LaToya Horton, would set off an 11-4 run and UNCW would grab a 50-49 lead with 7:15 remaining.
Defense for the Lady Pirates became key factor in the final seven minutes of play as ECU forced six Seahawk turnovers that lead to eight Pirate points. ECU would finally pull away from UNCW behind the play of senior Alisha Bishop, who scored five of her eight points in the last two minutes, to seal the third straight Lady Pirate win.
"I think we are figuring out on defense how to make adjustments during the game, which is a big difference and shows that our girls are learning. We held them in the second half to very few open looks, which resulted in them forcing bad shots. This type of defensive play will be a positive for our team to build on for the remainder of the season."
The Lady Pirates will be back in action on Sunday, Dec. 22, when they travel to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum. A 2 p.m. tip-off is scheduled.
East Carolina v. UNC Wilmington
Dec. 13, 2003
Postgame Notes
