East Carolina University
North Carolina A&T
Lady Pirates Fall To Aggies
November 29, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 29, 2008
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's basketball team dropped the championship contest of the Lady Pirate Invitational as North Carolina A&T took a 70-51 decision inside Minges Coliseum Saturday night. The Lady Pirates drop to 4-2 on the season while the Aggies improve to 4-3 overall.
Sophomore Kim Gay put ECU ahead 2-0 on a layup at the 17:55 mark but Lamona Smalley answered right back with a jumper to tie the score. Gay continued to convert, scoring four straight to give the Lady Pirates a 6-2 lead with 15:38 left in the half. After NC A&T tied the score at six with 12:13 left, senior Jasmine Young put in a layup at the 11:33 mark to give East Carolina back the advantage. From there, the Aggies would take a 13-8 lead over the next two and a half minutes, but the Lady Pirates stormed back, using six-straight points to regain the advantage.
The teams would trade points the next six minutes, as the score stood at 20-19 in ECU's favor with 3:58 left before the break. However, NC A&T went on a 13-6 run to close the half, capped off by a Smalley layup at the buzzer to give the Aggies a 32-26 lead.
Gay paced the Lady Pirates with eight points in the first stanza while senior LaCoya Terry pulled down a team-high four rebounds. Young distributed the ball well, dishing out five assists in 20 minutes played. For NC A&T, Amber Bland produced 11 points while also leading her squad with seven boards. Additionally, Smalley recorded four assists in the half.
As a team, the Aggies out-rebounded East Carolina by one, 22-21 while also outshooting the Lady Pirates, firing at a 40.0 percent clip as compared to ECU's 34.3 mark.
NC A&T scored the first six points of the second half to stretch its advantage to 38-26 at the 16:50 mark. East Carolina put its first points of the half on the board with 15:50 remaining as the score stood at 40-28 at the first media timeout. The Aggie lead would get larger from there, as the visitors went out in front 50-33 with 11:08 left in the game. A Bland jumper with just under eight minutes remaining capped off another run, making the score 62-42. The Lady Pirates would cut the deficit to 18 but could get no closer the rest of the way.
Terry and Gay scored in double figures with 15 and 14, respectively while Gay also led the team in rebounds with 8. The 14 points were a career high for the sophomore. East Carolina was outrebounded for the first time in three contests, as NC A&T enjoyed a 51-37 advantage.
The Lady Pirates next play at No. 11 Virginia on Saturday. Tip off from the John Paul Jones Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m.
