Pirates Stifled by North Texas, 87-63

Tuesday, January 6

Denton, TX

7:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

10-6,2-1American

North Texas

8-7,2-1American

East Carolina

North Texas

January 06, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Notes

DENTON, Texas – The East Carolina women's basketball team saw a close first half turn to a route in the second in an 87-63 loss at North Texas on Tuesday. The Pirates were outscored 50-31 in the second half of play.

Redshirt-junior guard Jayla Hearp got the Pirates (10-6, 2-1 American) rolling early with 10 points on 4-4 shooting, including a pair of made three-point shots, before the first media timeout. After that pause, ECU couldn't buy a basket for a while before finally getting a Kennedy Fauntleroy layup at the 1:59 mark of the period, having missed five straight shots previously. Fortunately for the visitors, the Mean Green (8-7, 2-1 American) didn't have a whole lot of success scoring after the media timeout either as the teams exited the first quarter with just a 19-17 score, keeping ECU right in the game.

After both teams led by as many as five in the early going, North Texas got the first big punch of the game with an Aysia Procter triple a little over two minutes into the second quarter which made it a seven-point game at 27-20. The Mean Green wound up running off a 7-0 run to go up by as many as nine in the first half.

As the hosts built their lead, ECU suffered another streak of seven-straight misses and while turning the ball over three times in the opening minutes of the second period. Before finally scoring, it was a drought of over four minutes which was finally broken by a Keanna Rembert jump shot near the midway point of the quarter. North Texas then took their turn to be unable to buy a bucket with nine straight misses and their own scoring drought of nearly four minutes. The teams went into the halftime break with the scoreboard reading 37-32.

Megan Nestor led North Texas with eight points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone.

To start the second half, Hearp kept her hot shooting rolling with a three to reach 16 points, matching her output from the team's previous outing against Memphis. However, North Texas answered that with a four-point play from Proctor, which notably drew the third foul on Hearp and forced her out of the game for the time being. She would later foul out in the fourth quarter not having scored again.

With Hearp on the bench, the Mean Green were spurred on to 13-2 run in the following minutes. The team went up by as many as 20 at 62-42 before the Pirates' top scorer re-entered the game at the 1:17 mark of the third. ECU did manage to use an 8-2 run in the waning seconds of the quarter to get back to 14 down, 64-50, entering the final quarter.

All told it was a 27-18 margin for North Texas in the third quarter. Proctor scored 13 points in the frame.

Just two minutes into the fourth quarter, Proctor hit her fourth three of the game to push the margin back to 20. Proctor would finish the game with 24 points. From there, it was all academic. North Texas went up by as many as 28 points, while ECU shot just 4-13 in the final 10 minutes of play.

North Texas entered the game as one of the best teams nationally on the glass, ranking 12th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, and it showed on Tuesday as the team compiled 17 offensive boards and won the battle on the glass in total, 48-33. Nestor grabbed 17 rebounds herself.

Once all was said and done, both teams had taken exactly 64 shots from the field, but North Texas had made 30 to ECU's 23 while also building a 10-make margin from the foul line, 21-27 to 11-18.

Up Next
The Pirates remain on the road for a 3 p.m. contest at Wichita State on Saturday.