East Carolina University
Memphis
Lady Pirates Fall at Memphis
February 20, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2009
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The East Carolina women's basketball team jumped out to an early advantage, but could not hang on against Memphis, dropping a 74-68 decision inside the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Friday night. The Lady Pirates fall to 15-11 overall and 6-7 in league play while the Tigers improve to 11-15 on their season and 4-9 in C-USA action.
ECU got off to a hot start, getting out to an 11-3 lead at the 15:59 mark. The lead would grow from there, as the Lady Pirates put together a 12-6 run over the next 4:33 to assume a 23-9 advantage. However, Memphis began to chip into the lead, scoring nine of the next 14 points to pull within 28-18 with 7:07 left in the half. The Tigers completed the comeback, out-scoring East Carolina 18-7 in the final seven minutes to forge a tie at 36-36 going into the break. In all, Memphis used a 27-13 run to end the half.
LaCoya Terry netted 14 in the stanza to lead all scorers while Kim Gay pulled down a team-high four rebounds. Additionally, Jean Best notched three blocks in the period to bring her team-leading season total to 36. For the Tigers, Ashley Thornton and Alex Winchell reached double figures, scoring 10 points each while Shakira Copeland corralled eight boards. Memphis commanded the glass, out-rebounding the Lady Pirates 27-16 while ECU shot .483 from the field while allowing the Tigers to convert .344 of their attempts.
ECU established a five-point cushion at the beginning of the second half, leading 47-42 at the 14:43 mark. However, Memphis answered back, tying the score at 50 with 11:36 remaining in the game. The contest stayed close and balanced at 56-56 at the 7:48 mark. The Tigers proved too much down the stretch, using its offensive rebounding to keep the Lady Pirates at arms length. Memphis would out-score ECU 8-4 the rest of the contest, recording the six-point win.
Terry led all scorers with 24 points while Jasmine Young and Allison Spivey netted 13 and 11 respectively. Kim Gay and Terry corralled a team-high seven rebounds each while Young dished out five assists. Alex Winchell notched 17 points to lead the Tigers while three other Memphis players hit double figures as well.
Before the contest, head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener announced that sophomore forward Tiahana Bowens would sit out the Memphis and UAB contests due to a violation of team rules while junior center Lauren Cochran would miss at least the Memphis tilt to tend to a family obligation.
The Lady Pirates will try one last time for a C-USA road win, taking on UAB in Birmingham on Sunday at 3 p.m.
