Lady Pirates pick up two conference wins

The ECU women's basketball team broke a three-game conference-losing streak with a successful two-game home stand last week.

Thursday night, the Lady Pirates picked up the first of two wins as they caged the Memphis Tigers by a score of 88-63. Breathing a sigh of relief with a second conference win under its belt, ECU fought past UAB on Saturday, 70-64.

The Pirates were trailing the Blazers at the end of the first half, 32-29, but roared back in the second, outpacing the Blazers, 41-32. Early on in the half, ECU sophomore Kim Gay posted a three-point, game-tying play as she snagged her own rebound, put it back up and drew the foul.

UAB's Britney Jones answered, attempting to reclaim her team's lead, but Gay replied once more with a jumper that put the Pirates ahead for the first time in the second half at 15:53.

The ECU lead was short lived however, as Britney Jones and the Blazers crawled back into the lead with a layup and a three, regaining control, 43-39. In the spirit of piracy, Jasmine Young fired a cannon from behind the arc to bring ECU within one point of UAB. The Pirates upped the intensity and battled on with relentless play on both sides of the ball.

As the second half dwindled to 10:19, freshman Jean Best continued her steady play down low as she put the Pirates on top with a low post jumper, 48-46. Fueled by the crowd and newfound momentum, ECU began to fire on all cylinders as sophomore Allison Spivey dialed up from long distance, putting the Pirates up by five with under 10 minutes to play.

Though ECU was willing their way to victory with a nine-point lead, UAB did not leave quietly as it threatened the Pirates lead through much of the remaining half. Unfortunately for the Blazers, LaCoya Terry and Jasmine Young unleashed a tandem assault late in the game to put the Pirates in command.

"I just had to relax and play my game," said Young.

The fate of the game was no longer left to chance as Young hailed once again, this time from NBA three-point territory at 1:11, putting ECU in control, 68-62.

The Pirates pulled out a 70-64 victory, but the first period was no indication that ECU would emerge victorious. The Pirates were mobbed by an aggressive UAB defense that kept Young and Terry quiet throughout the first.

The Pirates made it a true team effort as Best and Spivey kept the score close going into the second half.

ECU coach, Sharon Baldwin-Tener accurately predicted that UAB would create a much larger challenge than Memphis.

"I think it will be a tough match come Saturday," Baldwin-Tener said following the Memphis game. "A different kind of team, but we have got to be ready."

While the Pirates were never in danger of falling to the Tigers, the win was equally as important. ECU, in need of a win Thursday night, took advantage of a struggling Memphis team (8-12, 1-6) by a score of 88-63.

"It's good to get a win tonight after three losses in a row," said Terry. "We played good defense tonight, which really helped us. It's good to have a win."

The Pirates offered no quarter for the Tigers as they lead the entire game. ECU forced 23 turnovers and robbed the Tigers of the ball 14 times.

Baldwin-Tener expressed her delight in her team's defensive performance.

"I thought we were very aggressive defensively," she said. "I thought we were good helpers. At the very beginning of the game, Jean [Best] gets over and takes a charge. We've really been working on help side in practice. I was really proud they were able to carry it over to a game."

The pair of Pirate victories shed a bit of light on a dark day for women's basketball. In honor of the late Kay Yow, ECU alum, the Pirates wore pink shoelaces Saturday to signify what a testament of perseverance she was for the fight against breast cancer and for the fight to succeed in every aspect of life.

The Pirates improved to 3-3 in conference play and 12-7 overall. On Thursday, ECU will head to Orlando to take on a UCF team that is 4-2 in conference play.

This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.