East Carolina University
Memphis
ECU Snaps Skid With 83-66 Victory
January 22, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's basketball team returned to Minges Coliseum for the first time since Jan. 3 Thursday night and collected a 83-66 victory over Memphis, breaking a three-game losing streak in the process. The Lady Pirates improve to 11-7 overall and 2-3 in conference play while the Tigers fall to 8-11 on their campaign and 1-5 in C-USA action.
With the win, which came in front of the largest crowd this season inside Minges Coliseum (1,701), East Carolina improves to a sparkling 7-1 at home. It is the best start to a home season since the 2003-04 campaign, when that Lady Pirate squad won its first eight contests in Greenville.
ECU jumped out to a 6-0 lead with three different Lady Pirates getting into the scorebook, but Memphis rallied back with four-straight points to slice the deficit to 6-4 at the 18:07 mark. From there, East Carolina took charge, using a 12-4 run that was capped off by a Jasmine Young free throw to assume an 18-8 advantage with five and a half minutes gone. The Lady Pirates would extend that lead over the next three minutes, enjoying a 24-11 margin at the second media timeout.
East Carolina kept its double-digit advantage intact with solid defense, forcing Memphis to turn the ball over but the Tigers would hit three-consecutive field goals to stay within striking range at 32-22 with 6:44 left in the period. Memphis would pull within five points as Paris Leonard netted eight-straight to make the score 35-30 at the 5:14 mark, However, a trey by Allison Spivey and a Kim Gay fastbreak layup stretched the Lady Pirate lead back to 10 with 3:43 left in the half. Points became scarce in remaining time before the break, as ECU collected the only two to establish a 12-point advantage.
Senior LaCoya Terry led all scorers at the break with 15 points, just two off of her season average while Young dished out eight assists, the most in a half this season for the Richmond, Va. native. Additionally, Terry and Spivey combined to shoot 6-of-7 from beyond the arc in the stanza. As a team, the Lady Pirates fired at a .486 clip from the field but were bested by the Tigers' .500 mark. Memphis also held the advantage on the boards, enjoying an 18-14 margin but also turned the ball over 17 times as compared to nine for East Carolina.
The Tigers attempted to shrink its deficit at the beginning of the half and succeeded, out-scoring the Lady Pirates 10-5 to pull within 47-40 with 16:44 left in the contest. However, ECU regained its double-digit lead, going on a 10-6 spurt to take a 57-46 advantage at the 11:56 mark. The Lady Pirates kept on the offensive, opening their largest lead of the game at 68-53 with 7:38 left and would cruise from there, never allowing the lead to dip below double digits.
ECU ended up with the advantage in shooting (.476-.440), rebounding (35-31) and assists (23-13) while also turning the ball over less than Memphis (23-17). A trio of Lady Pirates scored in double figures as Jean Best, Young and Terry recorded 11, 18 and 20 points respectively.
It was the seventh 20-point effort for Terry on the season and her 16th double-digit scoring performance while Young collected her second double-double of the season and fifth of her career, adding 10 assists as she is the league leader in that category. Meanwhile, Tiahana Bowens set a new career high in rebounds with 10 and it was the third-straight contest in which she led the squad on the boards.
East Carolina returns to the court on Saturday, taking on UAB at 2 p.m. inside Minges Coliseum.
