Lady Pirates Fall To Charlotte In Season Finale, 68-66

Lady Pirates Fall To Charlotte In Season Finale, 68-66

02/26/2005

Photo Gallery 1

Photo Gallery 2

Box Score [PDF]

Overall Season Stats[PDF]

C-USA Stats [PDF]

Greenville, NC - The East Carolina women's basketball team (10-17, 6-8) could not hold on to an 11-point lead in the second half against instate rival Charlotte and dropped their eighth Conference USA game of the season, 68-66, in the regular season finale for both teams.

Jennifer Jackson scored a game-high 24 points, her 20th double-figure scoring game of the season, to lead the Pirates. Fellow senior Viola Cooper recorded her 12th double-digit game of the year with 12 points. LaToya Horton added four points, grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and dished out a career-best seven assists.

After taking a seven point lead into the intermission 39-32, the Pirates extended their lead to 11, 51-40, when Jackson connected on her third 3-pointer of the day with 15 minutes remaining in the game. An 11-2 run capped off by Tyhiesha Smith's lone basket of the game, a three-pointer, tied the game at 53 with eight minutes to go.

The two teams exchanged the lead for the next four minutes until a Sabrina Gregory three-point play with 4:18 left gave the 49ers the lead for good, 62-60.

Two free throws by Sakellie Daniels and a 15 foot jumper by Gregory gave the 49ers (21-7, 9-5) the lead for good. Jackson had a chance to tie the game with two seconds remaining, but her shot fell short of the rim securing the 49ers win, 68-66.

In the first half, Charlotte jumped out to an early 9-2 lead behind Pam Brown and her four points, which included a three-pointer from the top of the key.

ECU climbed right back into the game scoring 16 of the next 26 points to cut Charlotte's lead to one, 19-18, with nine minutes left until the half.

The game remained tied for the next couple minutes with the two team's exchanging leads a couple of times. Then, ECU went on a 16-6 run over the next six minutes to take their largest lead of the half 37-27 when Jackson found Cooper with a no-look pass in transition for a lay-up with just under two minutes left in the half.

The two teams exchanged baskets then a three-pointer by League with 35 seconds left in the half cut the ECU halftime lead to 39-32.

"We did a lot of good things today and shot the ball well from the floor," said Head Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener. "I was pleased with the way we took care of the ball and I think we're going to try to build on this going into the conference tournament.

"I'm proud of these girls and the way they played hard and competed today. The effort from these girls today was tremendous."

The Pirates will head to Charlotte, N.C. Thursday, March 6 to participate in the 2005 Pepsi Conference USA Women's Tournament. ECU wrapped up the eight seed and will face Memphis (No. 9 seed) at 1 p.m. inside Halton Arena. Pirate fans can catch all the live action via the internet by logging on to www.charlotte49ers.com.

East Carolina vs. Charlotte
Feb. 26, 2005
Post Game Notes

Viola Cooper started her 55th consecutive game for the Pirates. She recorded her 25th career double-digit game with 12 points on the day. Cooper connected on a pair of 3-pointers and now has 81 for her career, which ranks seventh all-time in ECU's history.

Jennifer Jackson played in her 108th career game for the Pirates with her 75th career start. She finished the game with a game-high 24 points, her 70th career double-digit game. Currently she has 1,478 career points, which is fifth best all-time in ECU's history. On the day Jackson sank three 3-pointers and now has 159 for her career and is eight away from padding Justin Allpress for first place in 3-pointers made.

Shanita Sutton played in her 105th career game for the Pirates with 66 career starts. She recorded six points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes.

Soraya Hellaby recorded her fourth career start scoring two points and grabbing one rebound in four minutes of action.

Samantha Pankey scored six points hitting 3-of-9 shots from the floor. She also recorded four rebounds and three assists in 40 minuteds of play.

Junior LaToya Horton recorded a career-best seven assists while bringing down a game-high 10 rebounds. She also recorded two blocks on the day and has 22 on the season.

Freshman Nicole Days was a perferct 2-for-2 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free throw line and finished with seven points.

The Pirates shot 82.4 percent (14-17) from the line marking the 10th time this season they have reached 80 percent or better.

In seven of its last eight games, the Pirate have shot 40 percent or better from the floor. Today they connected on 40.4 percent (23-57) of their shots from the floor.

Related Videos

Footer