LAS VEGAS – The East Carolina women’s basketball team lost its second-straight contest, this time at the hands of the UNLV Lady Rebels on Friday afternoon in the Thomas & Mack Center. Amiya Joyner was the lone Pirate in double figures with 11 in the game.
The Pirates (3-4) got off to a sluggish start again on Friday with seven turnovers and just one field goal in the first six-plus minutes of action. A flurry of points from Bobbi Smith in the latter stage of the first quarter stemmed the bleeding a bit, but a hot-shooting 8-12 start for UNLV (6-2) made it a double-digit deficit for the visitors after just 10 minutes played.
ECU flirted with getting back into the game in the second quarter, a few times getting within single digit, including on a nice and-one jump shot from Jayla Hearp at the midway point of the period. However, UNLV responded in kind and put on a short 5-0 burst to end the half and equal their largest lead of the day at 14 points going into the break.
The hosts kept pushing the lead with a 7-2 run to start the second half, pushing the margin to 19 early in the third. The Pirates closed the period on a 6-0 run of their own to cut the margin down to 13 with 10 minutes to play, keyed by excellent hustle from Joyner and Khia Miller, whose and-one finish with 5.6 to play gave the team life heading into fourth.
Despite inching to within 11, the Pirates never managed to get the game to single digits again and Aaliyah Alexander’s shot clock buzzer-beating three with under a minute remaining was perhaps a fitting way to close the game as UNLV poured in seven threes on the day, compared to the Pirates’ zero. Joyner scored nine of ECU’s 11 in the closing quarter as the team simply could not get enough points on the board to make it a real game.
For the game, it was another difficult day offensively for ECU with 22 turnovers, amounting to 51 in total during the two-game Las Vegas swing, the most in a two-game stretch since January 2024 when the team had 24 giveaways against UTSA and Memphis – two games which the Pirates won.
At 48 percent from the field on the game, UNLV was able to keep their hot shooting season going, adding a 39 percent clip from behind the three-point line and while the Pirates did manage to shoot 37 percent from the field, 0-6 from three-point ranged partnered with the turnovers made winning a difficult proposition.
Up Next
The Pirates return to the familiar confines of Minges Coliseum on Sunday, Dec.8 as they host Elon for a 1 p.m. matinee.
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