East Carolina University
UAB
Lady Pirates Drop Overtime Heartbreaker to UAB, 73-69
February 01, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2007
UAB 73, East Carolina 69 (ot) (PDF)
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GREENVILLE, N.C.--Diamond Rogers' jumper with 32.3 seconds remaining in overtime proved to be the game winner as UAB defeated East Carolina 73-69 Thursday evening at Minges Coliseum. The Lady Pirates had two shots with less than ten seconds to play, but could not get either to fall. UAB improves to 12-9, 7-2 in Conference USA while the Lady Pirates drop to 9-13, 4-5 in league play.
The Lady Pirates jumped out to a 10-0 run, including six points from LaCoya Terry. UAB's Rogers sank a three-pointer at the 15:08 mark, giving the Blazers their first basket of the game, making the score 10-3. The Blazers put together a 13-2 run, sparked by Rogers' three, to take the 13-12 lead with 11:12 to play in the half. A pair of Cherie Mills' free throws put East Carolina back on top, 14-13. Rogers free throws at the 9:39 gave UAB the 15-14 lead, while Britney Jones' steal and layup increased the Blazers lead to three, 17-14, forcing an ECU timeout. Jasmine Young's three pointer at the 7:40 mark tied the game at 19 a piece. Mills' jumper gave the Lady Pirates the 21-19 advantage, but Fatiha Salaam's trey on the next possession put the Blazers on top, 22-21. Terry's putback on a Nicole Days miss gave ECU the lead, while Mills' basket extended the lead to three, 25-22, with 5:40 remaining in the half. A pair of free throws by Young with two seconds to play gave the Lady Pirates the 30-23 lead at the break.
Terry led all scorers with eight points at the break while Young added seven and Impris Manning chipped in five. Guzman led the Blazers with seven points. ECU shot 35.5 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the charity stripe.
ECU opened the half scoring three straight, and extending the Lady Pirates lead to 10, 33-23, with 18:08 to play in the game. After a jumper by UAB's Amanda Scott, Young connected on her second trey of the game to give ECU the 11 point, 36-25 lead. Salaam's three free throws pulled the Blazers to within 10, 42-32, with 13:48 on the clock. UAB put together a 9-2 run over the next two and a half minutes, cutting the ECU lead to five, 48-43, with 8:42 to play. A pair of Manning free throws increased the Lady Pirate lead to seven, 50-43. Rogers layup at the 4:34 mark cut the ECU lead down to four, 55-51, but a jumper from the charity stripe by Young gave the Lady Pirates the 57-51 advantage with 3:40 to play. A three-pointer by Salaam and a jumper by Rogers over the next two possessions pulled the Blazers to within one, 57-56, with 2:33 remaining in the game. Four straight free throws by UAB gave the Blazers the 60-57 lead with 1:26 to play. Mills' putback at the 1:16 mark cut the UAB lead to one, 60-59, but a Jones trey on the next possession gave UAB the 63-59 lead. Terry's five foot jumper with 33.6 seconds to play pulled ECU to within two, 63-61. Terry drew the offensive charge, giving the Lady Pirates the ball back with 31.7 to play. Terry sank both of her free throws, tying the game at 63 all with 27.6 seconds remaining, and eventually sending the game into overtime.
ECU scored first in the extra period on a Young jumper. UAB answered, as Salaam tallied her third three-pointer of the game to give the Blazers the one point, 66-65, lead, with 3:51 on the clock. A pair of Terry free throws put ECU back on top, 67-66, with 3:32 remaining. Mills' layup from Manning increased the Lady Pirates lead to three, 69-66, with 2:14 on the clock. UAB's Rogers three with 1:26 to play knotted the game at 69-69. Rogers' jumper with 32.3 seconds on the clock proved to be the game winner, as the Lady Pirates could not get a shot to fall in the final seconds of the game. Salaam's free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining gave UAB the 73-69 win.
Tonight's overtime contest marks the second time in as many years that these two teams have required extra time to determine a winner, as last years game in Greenville needed three overtimes. Rogers led all scorers with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. Guzman also scored in double figures, with 19 points, including four three pointers. Mills led ECU with 19 points and eight rebounds. Terry finished with 17 while Young had 16. Days pulled down a team high 10 rebounds.
East Carolina returns to Minges Coliseum this Saturday as it hosts Memphis at 1:00 p.m.
