The ECU women’s basketball team continued its impressive American Conference success with another victory on Tuesday, this time against UTSA.
Below are more details from ECU Sports Information.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The East Carolina women’s basketball team is off to its best start in league play in 40 years thanks to a 65-58 road win over UTSA on Tuesday evening. With the win, the Pirates are 6-1 in conference play for the first time since going 11-1 in 1985-86 in the CAA and have won 10 of their last 11 games overall.
The Pirates (14-6, 6-1 American) won despite about as an abysmal start as possible. The team shot just 2-14 in the first quarter and trailed 13-6 after 10 minutes played. It tied the lowest scoring output in a quarter this season, but thanks to some stingy defense of their own, the visitors were still right in it.
Shooting 6-11 in the second quarter helped, and ECU managed to take the lead on a couple of occasions in the frame with Keanna Rembert taking charge with 11 points. Rembert shot a perfect 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from the foul line while swishing home a three in the second to almost singlehandedly will the Pirates back into the game.
It was an ugly game at times, and a physical one throughout. The first half saw a combined 28 turnovers, a number which swelled to 50 combined by the final whistle with ECU forcing a season-high 29 on UTSA (9-8, 4-2 American). The game also saw 45 fouls called.
The Pirates jumped out of the locker room and quickly got themselves in front. By three minutes into the third quarter, the team had a lead it would never give up. Thanks in part to some terrific play by Jayla Hearp, ECU went up by as many as nine points in the quarter to take a 50-41 edge into the final quarter.
The key moment of the third quarter came in the fourth minute as Hearp stole the ball on one end, drove down and finished an and-one before sinking the free throw at the 6:51 mark. UTSA was able to answer with a three, but in possibly the most pivotal moment of the game, Hearp quickly erased it, drilling a triple of her own just seconds later to put the Pirates back up five. The redshirt-junior scored the game’s next points a couple of minutes later to make it seven and ECU was off to the races.
The fourth quarter reverted back to a bit of an ugly tussle. The teams combined for just four made field goals and both sides made seven free throws—though, ECU suffered five of their seven misses in the game in the final quarter.
After the Pirates went up a dozen early in the quarter, a margin they would reach again with just 4:23 remaining, the Roadrunners never quit. Twice the hosts, who entered the game with 13-consecutive home conference wins, got within six, getting to that margin for the final time on an Ereauna Hardaway three with 37 seconds left.
The game came unraveled for UTSA from there as ECU was able to run 33 seconds off of the clock without being fouled thanks to a couple of turnovers and some well-executed keep away. By that point, it was over, ECU having secured a critical road win in a high-stakes game in the American Conference.
With the win, the Pirates go to 6-1 in conference play for just the third time in program history (1984-85 and 1985-86). The team has won 10 of their last 11 for the first time since starting the 2013-14 season 13-1.
Up Next
The Pirates are on the road once again for a tilt with UAB on Saturday at 3 p.m. ECU previously defeated the Blazers in Greenville, 88-87 in overtime, on a Keanna Rembert buzzer beater back on Jan. 30.