Women's Basketball Downs UAB In Conference Opener
January 09, 2004 | Women's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- The East Carolina women's basketball team recorded its first win of the conference season in the C-USA opener over UAB, 66-54, inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Friday night.
ECU (10-4, 1-0) went on a 23-3 run in the final 7:39 of regulation to record its fourth straight win, and its eighth in the last nine games. During the Lady Pirate run, freshman guard Keisha Anthony gave ECU its first lead of the game, 52-51, after hitting the first of two consecutive three-pointers.
The Lady Pirates trailed UAB (6-8, 0-1) by seven at intermission, 32-25, behind the sharp shooting of forward Gennifer Bridges, who was 6-of-7 from the floor with 12 points. The Lady Blazers jumped out to an early 10-4 lead behind a pair of Bridges layups before ECU clawed back within two, 12-10, on a Courtney Willis layup.
But nine first half turnovers coupled with being out rebounded 22-15, and a pair of Carmen Guzman jumpers saw UAB take its largest lead of the game, 28-18, with 3:47 until the break.
In the second half ECU looked like a different team on the floor. Anthony and Willis got things going, scoring eight of the Lady Pirates' first 11 points to pull within three, 39-36, in the first five minutes of play. From that moment on, ECU's defense was the key to the Lady Pirate win.
The Lady Pirates forced 19 turnovers, held UAB to 29.6 percent shooting from the floor, and offensively scored 26 points in the paint in the second half to secure its 10th win of the season.
ECU's Willis led three Lady Pirates in double figures, as she recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 boards. Anthony netted 15 points after hitting 6-of-8 from the floor, including two from behind the arc. Guard Jennifer Jackson added 13 points, shooting 83 percent (5-of-6) from the free throw line.
Bridges led all scorers with 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to record her third double-double of the season for UAB. She shot 81 percent from the floor, and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
ECU will return to action Sunday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. to face USF. Pirate fans attending the game can get a free child's ticket with the purchase of a regularly priced adult ticket. Sunday's game also is senior citizen day, as senior citizens (62 or older) are admitted for free.
East Carolina v. UAB
Jan. 9, 2004
Postgame Notes
East Carolina v. UAB
Jan. 9, 2004
Head Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener Quotes
"It is nice to start off in conference play with a win. It wasn't a pretty game, but we were able to come out on the winning side. I would rather it be ugly and a win, than pretty and lose."
"It is good anytime that you have more assists than turnovers, which is something that we have not done often this year. Tonight we flipped the rebounding and turnovers. We were out-rebounded by two tonight, 39-37. If we can keep the turnovers down and go back to rebounding the ball like we have been doing all season, I think we will be a much better team."
"Keisha plays with a lot of fire on the floor. That's one thing that can helps us, if she can keep it under control and play under control. I think she did a great job tonight coming in and gave us some fire off the bench, and lifted us up."
"The key for a win is going to be on the defensive end. USF is very athletic and I think that they will cause some match-up problems for us. We are going to have to mix up our defenses, play a little bit of zone to try and see if we can't keep them off the boards. They like to push the ball up and down the floor and have much better shooters and a little bit better inside players this year."
