Women’s Basketball Unable to End No. 1 Connecticut’s Historic Streak

Tuesday, January 24

Greenville, N.C.

7 PM

East Carolina University

10-11,1-7AAC

Connecticut

19-0,7-0AAC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
UCONN	28	18	26	19	91
East Carolina	9	15	6	14	44

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

Women’s Basketball Unable to End No. 1 Connecticut’s Historic Streak

January 24, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina was led by Kristen Gaffney who had 13 points while freshman Justice Gee score a career-high eight points as the Pirates lost, 91-44, to No. 1 Connecticut Tuesday night.

Team Records: East Carolina (10-11, 1-7 AAC) | Connecticut (19-0, 7-0 AAC)

Connecticut outscored East Carolina by 19 points in the opening quarter but the Pirates entered the second frame with an 11-0 run to quickly cut the deficit to 12 points. The Huskies were scoreless for nearly the first seven minutes of the second quarter, but the draught was snapped by a trey from UConn's leading scorer Katie Lou Samuelson at 3:11.

By halftime, East Carolina trailed the top-ranked Huskies 46-24, the second-smallest halftime deficit in the two's eight meetings. After halftime, UConn burst out with a 15-0 run to take a commanding 36-point lead at 4:18. Despite ECU improving offensively in the second portion of the half, Connecticut cruised to a 91-44 win over the Purple and Gold en route to its NCAA record 94^th consecutive win.

Head Coach Heather Macy

Opening Statement:
"There are a lot of positives to take out of tonight's basketball game. I liked how some of the young ones really competed, I'm real proud of them for that. But again the gap is very large, and we've got to keep attacking and closing that gap. That doesn't just happen on game day, it happens with what we're doing in the off-season. The message I gave to the girls in the huddle there at the end is, when I'm pushing them and driven throughout the summer time and the next 365 days they'll know where my motivation comes from."

Macy on overall defense against UConn:
"Well, the tough part is that we defended so well, and then you give up an offensive rebound. And that's pretty deflating but there's a lot of positive moments that we can definitely point to on the defensive end."

Macy on freshman Justice Gee finding success during the game:
"Well Justice came in and was super aggressive and that was my message. I told them that if we're going to make errors, we want to make errors at being too aggressive. And I thought she did a really nice job in responding to that."

Macy on Minges atmosphere tonight:
"It was how Minges Coliseum needs to be every single night, right? That's what you shoot for and what our goal is."

First Quarter
Connecticut dashed out to a 7-4 lead by a three-pointer from Antoinette Bannister cut it two a one-possession game, 7-5. The Huskies continued to shoot well and had three players score eight-or more points to lead 28-9 at the end of the quarter. ECU shot 30 percent from the field and grabbed just five rebounds while the Huskies had 12 boards, eight of which were offensive.

Second Quarter
East Carolina came out hot in the second quarter. The Pirates held No. 1 Connecticut scoreless for the first six minutes and 50 seconds with an 11-0 run of their own. They forced six Husky turnovers during the run which shaved UConn's lead to 12 points by the 3:36 mark after a layup by Raven Johnson. Connecticut closed the half on a 14-4 run to lead by 22 points at the break, 46-24. ECU shot 70 percent from the field (7-for-10) with Gee shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from field goal range.

Third Quarter
The tables turned after halftime, with UConn stringing a together a 15-0 run to open the third quarter to lead by 37. Gaffney hit a pair of free throws to halt the Huskies run but Connecticut's sharp shooting continued to push past ECU as the visitors led by 42 at the buzzer. The Pirates shot just 16.7 percent from the field in the third frame while UConn was 50 percent from the field and connected on 6-of-7 shots from the free throw line.

Fourth Quarter
The fourth quarter was balanced for the Purple and Gold. The Pirates out-rebounded Connecticut 10-7 and were outscored by five points, 19-5, through the final ten minutes. Bre McDonald grabbed four boards for East Carolina while Antoinette Bannister led with four points, all of which were on a four-point play when she made the extra point after draining three-pointer. Connecticut held on to win by 47 points, two more than when the two squads met earlier this season.

Up Next
East Carolina enters its bye weekend in league play and will return to action Tuesday, January 31, on the road at Tulsa. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m.