East Carolina University
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UTEP
Lady Pirates Rally For 66-64 Win Against UTEP
February 15, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2007
East Carolina 66, UTEP 64 (PDF)
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GREENVILLE, N.C.--Cherie Mills and LaCoya Terry combined for 51 points to help East Carolina surge past UTEP 66-64 Thursday evening at Minges Coliseum. The Lady Pirates came back from 13 points down with 11 minutes to play to win their fourth straight game.
ECU is now 13-13 overall and 8-5 in Conference USA action, and currently sits in a tie for 4th place with three games remaining before the C-USA tournament. UTEP falls to 19-6, 8-5 in league play and is tied with ECU for 4th place.
The Lady Pirates opened up the game on a 6-0 run, all coming from Mills. The Miners scored their first points of the game on a Jareica Hughes layup at the 18:04 mark. UTEP cut the ECU lead down to two, 8-6, with 16:18 to play in the first half on a pair of Izabela Piekarska free throws. A 6-0 spurt by the Lady Pirates increased their lead to eight, 14-6, with 13:56 on the clock. Back to back three's by the Miners pulled them within two, 14-12. Jasmine Young's jumper at the 12:51 mark extended the ECU lead back out to four, 16-12. Hughes' three-pointer with 8:39 on the clock pulled UTEP within one, 20-19, while Charnette Phelps' layup gave the Miners their first lead of the game, 21-20, forcing an ECU timeout. Young's free throws with 6:57 on the clock ended a 9-0 UTEP run and a four minute ECU scoring drought, pulling the Lady Pirates within one, 23-22. Mills' layup put the Lacy Pirates back on top, 24-23, with 5:59 to play. Jonna Launiainen's trey with 3:43 remaining in the half gave UTEP the 26-24 lead. Tasha Marisett's basket increased the Miners lead to four, 28-24 heading into the final media timeout of the half. The Lady Pirates put together a 4-0 run to cut the Miners lead down to two, 30-28, with a minute to play. UTEP, however, put together a 5-0 run, capped off by a Hughes' three-pointer at the buzzer, to take the 35-28 lead into the break.
Hughes led all scorers with 13 at the break, including three three-pointers. Mills and LaCoya Terry led the Lady Pirates with 10 points each. The Lady Pirates shot 34.4 percent compared to UTEP's 43.8. ECU outrebounded the Miners 20-17 in the opening half.
ECU opened the second half on a 3-0 run, cutting the Miners lead to five, 35-30, with 19:05 on the clock. UTEP answered, going on a 6-0 spurt to increase its lead to ten, 41-31, with under 18 minutes to play in the game. Terry's fast break layup ended the run and pulled ECU within eight, 41-33. Terry scored back to back buckets to cut the UTEP lead down to six, 45-39, with 14:54 to play. Piekarska's trey at the 12:06 mark gave UTEP its largest lead of the game, 51-39. Terry's free throws at the 8:50 mark pulled ECU within eight. The Lady Pirates forced a UTEP turnover on the inbounds, resulting in another Terry basket, cutting the Miner lead to six, 57-51, with 8:39 to play. Mills' layup with 5:55 on the clock pulled ECU within four, 60-56. Mills connected on both free throws at the 3:15 mark to cut the lead to two, 60-58. East Carolina forced a UTEP turnover and tied the game at 60 a piece on a Nicole Days layup with 2:38 remaining in the game. Ana Valtierra's jumper put the Miners back on top, 62-60. Young's free throws with 1:40 to play tied the game once again, this time at 62 all. Marisett's jumper put the Miners up, 64-62, with 30.6 seconds remaining in the contest. Mills was fouled with 9.2 seconds to play by Shalana Taylor, who fouled out on the play and drew a technical foul on the same play. Mills went to the line to shoot four free throws, two for the technical and two for the personal foul. She hit nothing but net in all four, giving the Lady Pirates the 66-64 lead with 9.2 seconds to play. Hughes threw up a desperation shot with three seconds on the clock but it missed the rim and Days pulled down the rebound to secure the 66-64 ECU win.
Mills finished with a season-tying 26 points, while Terry added a career-best 25. The Lady Pirates shot 42.9 percent from the field on the night and shot 85.7 percent from the charity stripe, connecting on 18-of-21 from the line. Hughes led the Miners with 18 points.
East Carolina returns to Minges Coliseum this Saturday as it hosts league-leading Tulane in ECU's senior day, with tip-off set for 2:00 p.m. The Lady Pirates will honor both Mills, seniors Amanda and Cherie, prior to the contest.
