East Carolina University
Rice
Lady Pirates Take Care Of Rice, 79-54
February 26, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2009
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| CBS College Sports Highlights 
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's basketball team improved to 12-1 inside Minges Coliseum this season, sprinting past Rice, 79-54, on Thursday evening in a nationally-televised CBS College Sports tilt. The Lady Pirates, who won their fourth contest in five tries, rise to 17-11 overall and 8-7 in conference play while the Owls dip to 7-21 on their season and 2-13 in C-USA action. The 12 home wins are the second-most in a single season in program history and are just one shy of the 13 set by the 1985-86 and 1986-87 squads.
The teams traded baskets to begin the contest, but Rice edged out to a 9-6 advantage three minutes into the game. However, ECU answered right back, going on an 11-0 run over the next five minutes which gave it a 17-9 lead and forced an Owl timeout. The Lady Pirates would score four more points before Rice finally ended its drought with a Morgan Mayse trey at the 11:39 mark. On the strength of a 11-5 run, the OWls would slice their deficit to four at 26-22. But East Carolina clamped down on defense, holding Rice scoreless for 6:49 while scoring 16-straight points themselves, making the score 42-24 with 29 seconds remaining in the half. Mayse would then hit a jumper at the buzzer, leaving the Lady Pirates with a 14-point advantage at the break.
LaCoya Terry led all scorers in the half with 17 while Kim Gay added five points and five rebounds. For the Owls, Mayse netted a team-high seven and Brianna Hypolite pulled down four boards. ECU held the decided advantage from the field, firing at a clip of .484 as compared to just .306 for Rice. The Lady Pirates also out-rebounded the visitors 24-18 in the stanza.
East Carolina extended its advantage to 20 to begin the second half, holding a 50-30 lead at the 15:31 mark. The Owls also got into a bit of foul trouble, committing six fouls in the first three minutes of the period. A Lauren Cochran layup stretched the Lady Pirate lead to 25 at 58-33, their largest of the game, before the advantage ballooned to 28 on a nice feed to Cochran in the post from Ashley Clarke.
ECU began to put Rice on the free throw line with seven minutes remaining in the contest, and the Owls would cut their deficit to 20 at 69-49. The Lady Pirates ramped up their defense, however, allowing Rice to score just five more points the rest of the way. Gabriela Husarova would hit a trey to give ECU a 28-point lead and the Lady Pirates never looked back, cruising to the 25-point win.
Terry finished as the game's leading scorer, netting 19 while Young and Clarke both added 12 points. Tiahana Bowens came up just two points shy of her first career double-double, as she dropped in eight points to go along with 10 rebounds. Gay also had a nice night on the glass, pulling down eight boards. ECU shot over 40 percent for the 12th-straight contest, finishing at .475 efficiency while holding Rice to just .254. The Lady Pirates also matched their highest rebounding output of the campaign, corralling 54 to match its effort against Gardner-Webb on Dec. 18.
East Carolina will host Houston at 2 p.m. on Saturday in its final regular season contest. The Lady Pirates will honor seniors Gabriela Husarova, LaCoya Terry and Jasmine Young in a pregame presentation.
The 2009 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship is set to get underway on March 5-8 in New Orleans. For the past 13 years the league has awarded the championship trophy to eight different outstanding teams. Fans may purchase their tickets in advance by calling the East Carolina ticket office at 252.328.4500 or online at ecupirates.com. General admission All Session tickets are $50 for adults and $40 for youth, while Single Session prices are $10 for adults and $7 for youth.
