Jackson Leads Lady Pirates Past Memphis, 87-76
February 02, 2003 | Women's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Jennifer Jackson had career highs in points, rebounds and steals as the East Carolina Lady Pirates defeated Memphis, 87-76, for their first conference win of the season. The game was played at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum in front of a crowd of 402.
Jackson had 31 points and 17 rebounds for the Pirates (9-10, 1-5 C-USA) as well as four steals on the afternoon, all career highs.
Four other players scored in double-figures. Courtney Willis had 15 points, Stefanie Warner put up a career high 13 points, and Tali Robich and Samantha Pankey each had 11 points in the Pirates' win. Warner was the second leading rebounder with seven, tying a career high set just last week against Houston.
"The way Jennifer played was unbelievable," said ECU head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener. " She was not only very aggressive on the offensive end, but on the defensive end she had so many rebounds and made so many things happen for our team, which was huge. When she plays hard, she is capable of scoring 30 points and getting rebounds. That is something that if she can realize and do it every game, it will make our team that much better."
East Carolina opened up the scoring on a layup by Willis, and were up 10-4 just four minutes into the game. Memphis (9-11, 2-5 C-USA) rallied back and tied things up at 10 on a shot by Princess Swilley and went up by four soon after. Another Willis layup would tie the game at 14. Memphis momentarily took the lead before a Jackson three-pointer put the Pirates up 19-16. East Carolina would hold on to the lead for the remainder of the first half. The Lady Pirates increased their lead to nine on two separate occasions, but took only a three-point advantage into the locker room at the half.
The Pirates scored four points and Memphis added one to open up the second half. East Carolina then went on a 14 to two scoring run to take a 16-point lead 55-39. At the 9:41 mark of the half, Kaneshi Hart fouled out of the game, and sent Warner to the free throw line for ECU. Warner hit both shots to give the Pirates the 59-44 lead. Memphis tried to chip away at the commanding Pirates lead, but ECU held on to its double-figured lead. At the 1:45 mark of the half, Memphis came within nine points of the lead, but a shot by Jackson put the Pirates up by 11. East Carolina would go on to win by the same margin (11 points) 87-76.
"We played hard and we played together and we didn't back down," said Baldwin-Tener. "Even when they made their runs, we stayed focused and we kept playing to win. We handled their press. Most of the time we were aggressive and we got easy looks out of it."
Shannon Hamp led the scoring for Memphis with 25 points. She also had a team high eight rebounds. Swilley had 14 points for the Tigers. No other Memphis player hit double-figures.
East Carolina will return to action next Friday night, February 7, against Louisville. The game is set for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
