Monster fourth quarter pushes Pirates by Tulane, 76-64

by | Jan 12, 2025

By ECUPirates.com

The East Carolina women’s basketball team got back to their winning ways with a 75-64 victory over Tulane on Saturday afternoon in Minges Coliseum. Freshman Devin Hagemann had a breakout game with 21 points, including four made threes.

The Pirates (9-7, 1-3 AAC) jumped out to a lead early, assisting on their first seven shots of the game as they hit seven of eight from the field during a 15-6 spurt in the opening quarter. That included a 4-5 clip from three-point range as the basket looked to be a mile wide for an ECU squad desperate for a first league win.

Tulane (10-6, 3-2 AAC) rebounded from their rough start to turn the contest into something like a track meet. The Green Wave got the second big run of the game, turning an eight-point deficit into a two-point lead with a 10-0 run in the second quarter. The Pirates, however, would recover to take a lead into the break.

The visitors looked to throw a knockout punch in the third quarter as seven ECU fouls in the first five minutes of the period resulted in nine made free throws on 10 trips to the line for Tulane. A seven-point spurt near the end of the third made it a 53-45 ballgame with 1:19 to go when Kim McNeill burned her second-to-last timeout of the game.

The timeout proved prudent and while it only steadied the ship for the remainder of the third, it set up a fourth quarter to remember. A 14-0 run—which was more broadly an 18-2 run—turned the game on its head. A deficit of two was a lead of a dozen in short order.

The run was made by the Pirates’ old staple: defense leads to offense. As the Tulane turnovers piled up, the makes on the other end did too. Jayla Hearp and Hagemann both drilled critical triples during the stretch and fast-break scores and made free throws aided in the lead’s growth. All told, it was a 27-11 fourth quarter which helped the Pirates to victory.

A major piece of the team’s offensive success was the ability to move the ball and one player who had their fingerprints all over that success was Khia Miller. In addition to five points, six rebounds and four steals, Miller posted a career best nine assists on the day. As a team, the Pirates accumulated 19 helpers on 24 made baskets.

The Pirates also continued their monumental success on the offensive glass with 20 offensive rebounds in the game, resulting in 20 second chance points. The team entered the game ranked 16th in the NCAA with 15.9 offensive boards per game.

Notables

  • Amiya Joyner blocked three shots in the game and now has 112 for her career, this moves her past Jen Cox (1996-98) into fifth in program history.
  • Joyner also grabbed her 750th career rebound—now at 754. She is the sixth Pirate to reach that milestone.
  • Miller’s nine assists were the most by a Pirate since Micah Dennis had 12 against Houston on Feb. 22, 2023.
  • Saturday’s game was the fifth of the season in which the Pirates grabbed 20-or-more offensive rebounds

Up Next
The Pirates head back out on the road to take on Charlotte on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

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