ECU Holds On For 68-57 Win At Cincinnati

Saturday, February 19

Cincinnati OH

2 PM

East Carolina University

11-15,4-9AAC

Cincinnati

10-15,3-10AAC

East Carolina

Cincinnati

February 19, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

CINCINNATI, OHIO – A dominant first half helped the East Carolina women's basketball hold on for a 68-57 win at Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates improve to 11-15 overall and 4-9 in the AAC while Cincinnati drops to 10-15 this season with a 3-10 league mark.

How It Happened

East Carolina found early success on both ends. Offensively, the Pirates did a good job of sharing the ball, as six different ECU players scored and the Pirates had five assists on their seven field goals. Tylar Bennett and Iycez Adams set the tone in the paint, with Adams scoring a pair of layups on the offensive end and Bennett swatting two Cincinnati shots. The Pirate defense held Cincinnati to 3-of-15 (.200) shooting in the first quarter and forced nine turnovers. That allowed ECU to race out to a 18-6 lead after one.
East Carolina continued to control the game early in the second quarter. Synia Johnson scored five quick points to open the quarter and a pair of free throws by Taniyah Thompson stretched the lead to 25-8 with 8:19 in the quarter.
The Pirates could not put the finishing blow on the Bearcats though. Cincinnati got the lead to 30-22 with 4:10 remaining and looked to be getting back into the game before halftime. But the Pirates finished the half on a 10-2 run behind five points from Thompson to extend the lead back to 40-24 at the break.
In the third quarter, neither team could get much purchase. While the Pirates were looking to extend the lead and put the game away, Cincinnati was looking to get back within single digits. The ECU lead hit 10 on multiple occasions, but six points from Green, including buckets at key times, helped ECU keep Cincinnati at bay. The Pirates went into the fourth quarter leading 53-43, a good sign as ECU was 9-0 when leading after three quarters.
The start of the fourth quarter was a bad time for the ECU offense to go cold. An Alexsia Rose layup at the 8:25 mark was the only Pirate points for the first five and a half minutes of the final frame. In that time, Cincinnati was able to cut the lead all the way down to 55-53 and had a chance to go ahead on a Caitlyn Wilson triple.
Wilson's triple rimmed out and after Johnson was able to haul in the rebound, the Pirates turned to their leading scorer to regain some cushion. Thompson operated from the top of the key and was able to create space at the right elbow for a pullup jumper that found the bottom of the net, putting the lead back to four. After a pair of stops, Morgan Moseley was fouled and she knocked down a pair of free throws. Then a Green steal led to Thompson being fouled and sent to the free throw line. That was the final nail in the Bearcat coffin as Green and Thompson combined to shoot 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes.

Pirate Notes

Thompson finished with 22 points, her fifth straight game with at least 20 points and the 17th straight with at least 10. Both streaks tie Jada Payne for the longest such streak by a Pirate since moving to the American Conference, with Payne completing both of hers during the 2015-16 season.
Thompson also led the Pirates in rebounding, grabbing eight boards.
Green and Johnson each finished in double figures, with Green netting 14 points while Johnson had 1 to go along with six rebounds. Green tied her season-high with four steals as well.
All nine Pirates that entered the game made at least one field goal.
East Carolina is now 11-0 on the season when scoring 60-plus points and 0-15 when failing to reach that mark.
It is the first season sweep of Cincinnati since the 2015-16 season, a year in which the Pirates beat the Bearcats three times.

Up Next

East Carolina will return to Minges Coliseum for the final two home games this season. The Pirates will host Tulsa on Thursday night before celebrating Senior Day with a matchup against South Florida on Sunday, Feb. 27.