Pirates' Season Ends With Quarterfinal Loss To UConn

Saturday, March 9

Uncasville, Conn.

2 PM

East Carolina University

16-15

University of Connecticut

29-2

ECU

UConn

Photo by: American Athletic Conference

March 09, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Championship Central

UNCASVILLE, CONN. – After hanging tough in the first half, the ECU women's basketball team could not keep up in the second stanza, falling to UConn 92-65 on Saturday afternoon in the AAC Quarterfinals.

ECU finishes its season with a 16-15 record for the second consecutive year as well as reaching the AAC Quarterfinals two years in a row. The Pirates were led in scoring by Lashonda Monk, as the sophomore guard finished with 20 points. Alex Frazier was the other Pirate in double figures, as she finished her ECU career with 13 points and five rebounds.

The Huskies (29-2) advance to their sixth straight AAC Semifinals and were led by American Player of the Year Napheesa Collier. Collier set a new AAC tournament record by shooting 15-of-20 from the floor and scoring 37 points to go along with 13 rebounds. Olivia Nelson-Ododa set a new record by hauling in 17 rebounds while Megan Walker finished with a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds).

After scoring just 50 points in an overtime win over SMU on Friday, ECU scored 39 points alone in the first half on Saturday. Monk was the spark in the first quarter. The Third-Team All-Conference selection had nine points and two assists during the first 10 minutes. UConn took a 22-13 lead after Collier scored seven straight points, but ECU finished the quarter on a 9-2 run, punctuated by a buzzer-beating layup by Monk. That run made it a one-possession game (24-22) heading into the second.

UConn opened the second quarter with an 11-0 run, the last nine of which came from Collier. ECU had a six-point spurt when Salita Greene converted a traditional three-point play and then Monk hit her second three of the game, cutting UConn's lead to seven. The Huskie lead vacillated between seven and 10 for the majority of the quarter until the final minute. After a Collier layup made it 44-34, ECU went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to five. A layup from Nelson-Ododa made it 46-39 at the half, the smallest halftime deficit ECU has faced in 11 tries against UConn.

After shooting 14-of-33 (.424) in the first half, the Pirates could not sustain that shooting in the second half. ECU shot 9-of-32 (.281) after the break while UConn shot 18-of-30 (.600). While Collier cooled down, scoring just eight points in the second half compared to 29 in the first half, the rest of the Huskies picked up the slack. UConn started the third quarter on a 14-4 run, with only two Destiny Campbell jumpers stemming the tide. The quarter finished with UConn leading 67-50 after outscoring ECU 21-11 in the third.

In the fourth quarter, ECU could not stop the Huskies. UConn shot 12-of-16 (.750) and outscored ECU 25-15. Frazier was the only consistent source of offense for ECU, scoring six points in the quarter.

UConn finished with a commanding 51-26 edge in rebounding and a 52-20 advantage in scoring in the paint. ECU did win the turnover battle, forcing 14 turnovers while turning it over just 12 times, but could only score five points off turnovers.