TULSA, Okla. – The East Carolina women’s basketball team fell in their conference opener to Tulsa, 93-84, on Sunday afternoon in the Reynolds Center. Playing shorthanded without two regular starters, the Pirates started well but struggled to keep clip as the game wore on.
final. pic.twitter.com/dLnSNOXqNn
— East Carolina Women’s Basketball (@ECUWBB) December 29, 2024
The two combatants got off to a torrid start in the game, both teams making their first five shots from the field to rush out to a scoring pace which seemed impossible to sustain. Jayla Hearp had fire on her fingertips in that opening segment for the Pirates (8-5, 0-1 AAC), scoring eight points on two threes and a sweet pull-up jumper in transition. Hearp wound up with three triples in the first, the second time in her career doing so (vs. High Point, 11/16/22).
The behind the back save and pass🔥🔥#AmericanWay x @ECUWBB pic.twitter.com/7vzpha6dP7
— The American (@American_Conf) December 29, 2024
Impossible to sustain, the pace was. Particularly for the Pirates, who were playing without regular starters Synia Johnson and Taliyah Wyche as well as relief point guard Timia Ware, depth became an issue in regard to scoring as the minutes piled up, as did the wear and tear.
The game turned on its head in the second quarter when Delanie Crawford drilled a pair of back-to-back threes to push Tulsa (7-6, 1-0 AAC) in front. Crawford played a half defying superlative in the first, finishing with 26 points on a 10-11 from the field and three made triples without a miss.
Needed that one @Bsmity04 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gBn4qARHnQ
— East Carolina Women’s Basketball (@ECUWBB) December 29, 2024
Things continued to get away from ECU further in the second quarter as the team, already shorthanded, began to find themselves in foul trouble. Khia Miller entered the break with three while Amiya Joyner and Bobbi Smith both wound up with a pair.
To make matters worse, the team turned the ball over 19 times in the first half of play alone. Elise Hill alone had seven steals in the first 20 minutes for the Golden Hurricane who poured in 23 points off turnovers before the break which would have been the fourth worst total allowed by the Pirates in a game entering Sunday.
Though, East Carolina in the Kim McNeill era is not known for going quietly into the night, so to speak. The Pirates roared to life at the end of the third quarter to turn a 14-point deficit into a workable six-point margin. An 8-0 run in short order keyed by transition offense forced Tulsa into a timeout and gave the visitors life going into the final frame.
special moment for @DevinHagemann 🙌🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/CgbmWpLMrh
— East Carolina Women’s Basketball (@ECUWBB) December 29, 2024
The last great blow to the Pirates’ comeback attempt may have been a sequence around the seven-minute mark of the fourth quarter Anzhané Hutton missed two free throws which could have cut the margin to three and in transition Kristol Ayson drilled a three-point shot to extend the Tulsa lead to eight.
The Pirates did get the margin back to six once, but with the new momentum, the hosts quickly extended their margin to double-digits once again.
Crawford finished the game with 36 points to pace the Golden Hurricane, while as a team, the Pirates turned the ball over 34 times, amassing greater than 30 giveaways for the first time since February 2023 and the most since at least 2005-06. Those turnovers subsequently figured into 37 points off turnovers for Tulsa, the second-highest total allowed by ECU this year, save for 40 by then-No. 1 South Carolina.
Four ECU players did manage to score in double figures on Sunday with 21 by Hearp, 13 by Khia Miller, 12 by Joyner and 10 by Morgan Moseley.
Up Next
The Pirates ring in the new year on the road as they head to Philadelphia, Pa. for a meeting with Temple on Jan. 1, 2025 at 4 p.m.