HOUSTON, Texas – The East Carolina women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought contest, 65-56, to the Rice Owls on Saturday afternoon in Tudor Fieldhouse. The Pirates battled back to erase a first-half deficit but faltered down the stretch with the Owls closing the game on a 7-0 run.
The Pirates (10-8, 2-4 AAC) got off to a slow start again on Saturday, trailing by six after a quarter and five at half after scoring just 10 points in each of the first two periods. Anzhané Huttonwas spectacular in that first half, keeping the team in the game with 10 points, seven rebounds, a block and an assist on a perfect 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from the foul line.
After halftime, the visitors got reinforcements elsewhere as they came to life to take the lead, going in front on a couple of occasions in the third quarter. Jayla Hearp had a run of five-straight points during that stretch and Devin Hagemann and Khia Millercontributed key baskets.
Rice (10-8, 3-3 AAC), as they have become accustomed to against ECU, hit the big baskets when it counted. They only made three of their eight three-point attempts in the second half, but they were killers and it seemed time and again that those pesky Owls had a timely answer to a Pirates run.
Victoria Flores paced the hosts with 18 as three Owls—Emily Klaczek with 14 and Aniah Alexis with 13—scored in double figures.
In a battle of two great rebounding teams, the Owls also took an edge in the category in the second half to the tune of a 17-12 advantage. The Pirates had nine offensive rebounds in the first half but were limited to just three in the second.
The game was officially turned on its head with 3:24 in the third when on a clean block, Hutton was called for a rather bizarre technical for taunting which resulted in a four-point contests turning to an eight-point game in a matter of seconds. The Pirates recovered to get back into the game but were never able to get back over the hump to take the lead back.
The Pirates had a good chance to make something from nothing in the dying seconds of the game when Miller got two good clean looks at a three in what was just a five-point game at the time. Had those fallen, who knows, but the basketball gods were unkind to the Pirate sophomore and Rice held on for the win.
For the day, three ECU players scored in double figures. Led by Hutton’s 16, Miller and Hearp both scored 10. Hutton also contributed nine rebounds, just missing a second double-double in as many games.
Up Next
The Pirates return to Minges Coliseum for game one of a three-game home stand as they host the Temple Owls on Wednesday with a 6 p.m. tip on ESPN+.
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