East Carolina University
21-9
Temple
16-16
East Carolina Eliminates Temple in Conference Quarterfinals, 77-71
March 07, 2015 | Women's Basketball
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Highlights |Postgame Press Conference
UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Redshirt junior Jada Payne scored a game-high 22 points and led four Pirates in double-figure points, as the East Carolina women's basketball team never trailed in its 77-71 victory over Temple in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena.
East Carolina (21-9, 11-7 AAC) will take on top-seeded UConn (30-1, 18-0 AAC) on Sunday, March 8 in the semifinals, and will mark the first time ECU faces the No. 1 ranked team in the country since Nov. 22, 2002 at Duke. Opening tip is set for 5:30 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Payne shot 8-for-20 overall, grabbed six rebounds and connected on a pair of three-pointers to tie her own single-season school record of 70 set last season. Junior forward I'Tiana Taylor posted her eighth double-double on the year with 11 points and 11 boards, redshirt senior wing Abria Trice added 13 points and six rebounds and junior guard Jasmine Phillips compiled 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 30 minutes off the bench.
Seeded fifth in the tournament, the Pirates forced six turnovers and opened up an early 10-2 lead, before the Owls called their first timeout of the day with just five minutes and 50 seconds into the game. Temple (16-16, 12-6 AAC) made just one of its first 12 shots as ECU extended the advantage to 16-2 following a Phillips layup with 12:20 to go and pushed the advantage to 19-4 after a three by Payne with 11:15 left.
Trailing by 15, the fourth-seeded Owls finally found a spark and ripped off a 9-0 scoring run to the 8:51 mark, but senior point guard Janesha Ebron put an end to the scoring spree with her first of two threes on the day just 14 seconds later.
Leading by seven, Taylor converted a three-point play with 6:01 on the clock to push the advantage lead back into double digits, 30-20. Temple cut its deficit in half over the ensuing 100 seconds of action, but a pair of jumpers by Phillips and Trice, followed by a three by senior forward Shae Nelson, increased the Pirate lead back to 11 with 2:17 remaining and the score 37-26.
A triple by Ebron with 1:29 to go created East Carolina's largest lead of the opening period, 40-27, but Temple's Feyonda Fitzgerald sunk a pair of free throws before the purple and gold took an 11-point advantage into halftime.
ECU shot 15-for-33 (.455) from the field, including 5-for-9 (.556) beyond the arc and went 5-for-6 (.833) at the free throw line while outscoring Temple, 12-2, in second chance points in the first half. The Owls shot 8-for-25 (.320), 3-for-9 (.333) from deep and 10-for-14 (.714) at the foul stripe.
The Pirates steadily expanded on its lead in the second half and got it back into double digits, moving ahead by as many as 16 after a layup by Phillips made the score 55-39 as Temple called a timeout with 12:23 remaining. The advantage grew to as many as 18 at 62-44 after a basket by Abria Trice with 8:58 to go, but a 10-0 Owl run over the next two-and-a-half minutes, capped by a Tyonna Williams free throw, chopped the difference to just eight points.
ECU went back up by 12 after Taylor, Payne and Trice sunk consecutive jumpers to make it 68-56 with 3:34 left in the game, but Temple made one final push and approached within five points and the score 70-65 with 1:19 to go. Trice hit one more layup and drew a foul with just 41 seconds remaining, before completing the three-point play that increased the lead to eight and all but sealed the win.
The Pirates finished the day 29-for-67 (.433) overall from the floor, 7-for-12 (.583) beyond the arc and 12-for-21 (.571) at the free throw line, while the Owls shot 23-for-62 (.371), including 3-for-15 (.200) from three-point land and 22-for-28 (.786) at the foul stripe.
Erica Covile led Temple with19 points and eight rebounds, as Williams scored 16, Fitzgerald added 13 off the bench and Alliya Butts chipped in 11 - all of which came in the second half.
