Pirates Handle Tulsa, 76-61

Saturday, March 7

Tulsa, OK

3:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

22-9,14-4American

Tulsa

19-11,11-7American

East Carolina

Tulsa

March 07, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Notes

TULSA, Okla. – The East Carolina women's basketball closed the regular season with a bang, going on the road to drop the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 76-61, on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Pirates tie the program record with 22 regular season wins and expand the team's program record with 14 conference wins.

Tulsa (19-11, 11-7 American) got off to a good start defensively, using a period of four forced turnovers in just under three minutes to build a six-point lead at 12-6 in the opening period. However, the Pirates (22-9, 14-4 American) responded by making four of their next five attempts from the field, including a made three-point shot by Olivia Hilliard. The triple, though only the rookie's third of the year, was swished home with confidence. The ECU defense played a huge role in the run back into the game with three turnovers forced out of the team's vaunted pressure.

The Pirates wound up ending the opening frame on a 16-2 run, with a 12-0 finish, highlighted by another triple by a triple by Kennedy Fauntleroy which was immediately followed by a forced turnover and another Hilliard jumper. Hilliard had her highest scoring output since scoring six against UTSA on Jan. 20 in the first quarter alone. ECU led 22-14 through one.

A Fauntleroy jumped extended the run to 18-2 to start the second quarter, and shortly after, Tulsa saw Hannah Riddick pick up her second foul of the game. Star guard Mady Cartwright having already picked up her third foul in the first quarter thanks to a double-technical sequence with ECU's Savannah Brooks, the Golden Hurricane were forced to play a long spell without their top two scorers, both players entering the game with better than 15-points per game this season.

Partially as a result, Tulsa did not score for 4:40 of game time, finally getting a pair of free throws from Jade Clack a couple of minutes into the second quarter. The Golden Hurricane finally made a field goal after six minutes and 45 seconds with a Laura Di Stefano basket.

Then it was ECU's turn to sift through a period without a field goal, balancing the drought with a septet of free throws to manage the lead. The Pirates did not make a field goal for 4:55, but both teams eventually recovered into a few minutes of quality offense resulting in a 39-32 halftime margin.

The opening minutes of the second half were frenetic. The Pirates got back-to-back threes from Anzhané Hutton before Riddick made back-to-back buckets for the hosts and head coach Kim McNeill burned a timeout to calm things down three minutes into the third. And was it ever a timely timeout as Barner and Fauntleroy both knocked down triples before the latter put in another bucket to make it an 8-0 run and 14-point lead for ECU midway through the quarter.

Fauntleroy, in addition to her scoring, assisted on Barner's triple for her sixth assist of the game. IT was also her 150th assist of the season, making her just the third East Carolina player ever to record 400 points and 150 assists in a single season, joining Sam Jones and Jasmine Young (who did so twice). For those who are superstitious, Jones did so during the team's 1982 NCAA Tournament season and Young did so during the team's 2007 NCAA Tournament run before doing so for a second time as a senior in 2008.

The Pirates continued to slowly expand the lead, going in front by 18 with a Hilliard score off a Hutton steal with 90 seconds to play in the third to draw a Tulsa timeout. ECU led going into the fourth, 62-43.

Though the hosts were able to draw within 14 early in the fourth, Tulsa still seemed out of sorts. For a team which is near the bottom of the NCAA in turnovers per game, the stat proved a thorn again on Saturday with 23 giveaways, allowing ECU to comfortably extend the margin right back.

The Golden Hurricane simply struggled to score the ball for much of the game. For a team which hangs its hat on shooting, an 0-15 start from three-point range was a major setback (the team did not hit a three until there were 52 seconds remaining). Tulsa even struggled from the foul line, where they are ordinarily excellent, missing 12 foul shots for just a 57 percent (16-28) clip from the charity stripe.

In the bizarre stat to end all bizarre stats, Tulsa's three at the 52 second mark, was the only field goals made by the team which was not recorded as a point in the paint. Tulsa had 61 points with 42 in the paint, 16 from the foul line and one made three.

The win has historic hues in the end: Since the WNIT began in 1994, the Pirates have never missed out on postseason play when winning 22-or-more games. The last time the team won 22 and missed out, the team lost in the CAA title game in 1985-86, the year the NCAA expanded its tournament field to 40.

But in the here and now, it was another fabulous day for these Pirates who were led by 17 points and eight assists from Fauntleroy, 14 points and seven rebounds from Keanna Rembert and 13 and 10 points from Barner and Hutton, respectively.

Up Next
The Pirates have secured the second seed in the American Conference Tournament and await their opponent for what is tentatively scheduled as a 9 p.m. ET tip on Friday, March 13, set to begin 35 minutes prior to the conclusion of the first semifinal game.