Wednesday, December 1
VCU 65, East Carolina 48
A cold stretch in the fourth quarter was the difference as the East Carolina women's basketball team fell to VCU 65-48 on Wednesday night.
The Pirates fall to 4-4 on the season, snapping a two-game winning streak. The Rams improve to 4-2 on the year.
Danae McNeal and Alexsia Rose carried the Pirate offense in the first quarter. After a 6-0 VCU run to open the game, McNeal scored or assisted on eight of ECU's nine points as the Pirates took a 9-6 lead. The Rams answered with a 7-0 run of their own before McNeal buried a triple, giving her nine points, an assist and three steals in the opening frame. Rose took over from there, scoring the Pirates' final five points of the first to keep East Carolina within four, 21-17 despite VCU shooting 5-of-6 (.833) from three.
Da'Ja Green opened the second quarter with six straight points, first getting fouled on a triple before making all three free throws and then burying a shot from beyond the arc. After a Taniyah Thompson layup put East Carolina up 25-23, the Rams went on another 7-0 run, finally ended by a Rose layup. McNeal got the final basket of the half for ECU off her fifth steal, making it 33-29 at the break.
The Pirates struck first in the third quarter, as seven points from Morgan Moseley and layups by Thompson and Raven Johnson gave ECU a 40-39 lead. But VCU answered once again, regaining the lead thanks to three layups and the Rams carried a 46-42 lead into the final quarter.
After a Ram triple opened the fourth, Green answered right back for ECU, getting into the lane for an old-fashioned three-point play. From there though, the Pirate offense could not get any of its shots to fall. ECU did not score for 5:21 as VCU rattled off a 10-0 run in that span, pushing the lead to 59-45. Thompson finally snapped the streak with a three-pointer, but that was the final field goal for ECU as the Rams closed on a 6-0 run.
Thompson led East Carolina with 12 points.
Wichita State 78, Oral Roberts 62
Behind a season-high 24 points from Mariah McCully, Wichita State extended its winning streak to four in a row with a 78-62 win over Oral Roberts Wednesday night in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (7-1) is off to its best start through its first eight games in program history.
Mariah McCully registered the Shockers' first 20-point performance of the season with a game-high 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting. Asia Strong notched her first double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 boards – scoring 12 of her 16 before halftime. Seraphine Bastin added a season-high 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Jane Asinde saw her streak of double-doubles come to an end at three, finishing with eight points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
Wichita State struggled from outside the arc, finishing 4-of-16, but shot 41 percent overall. The Shockers' defense held Oral Roberts to 30 percent shooting and 3-of-11 from downtown.
Two nights after scoring a career-low two points on 0-of-8 shooting, Strong scored the game's first six points, forcing an Oral Roberts timeout just 1:16 into the game. Following the timeout back-to-back transition scores from McCully and a Bastin layup made it 12-0 with 7:36 to play in the first quarter.
Wichita State pushed it to 16-4 only to see Oral Roberts respond with its own 11-0 run to pull within one at the 3:23 mark. Wichita State pushed the margin back to six, 22-16, at the end of the quarter.
A Carla Bremaud trey opened the second quarter, but ORU immediately answered with seven unanswered to tie the game at 25.
After trading baskets Wichita State stretched the lead back to eight over the final 5:30, and would see it get to 10 as the horn sounded following an Ella Anciaux offensive rebound putback.
Strong and McCully scored 12 points apiece in the half, and factor in Bastin's eight, the trio of Strong, McCully and Bastin accounted for 32 of the Shockers' 43 first half points.
Oral Roberts put together its second 11-0 run of the game to shrink the lead back to one with 5:28 to go in the third. Back-to-back triples from McCully eventually snapped the drought.
Wichita State would take a 58-51 lead into the final quarter.
ORU scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way. A pair of 6-0 runs pushed the margin back to double digits where it would stay over the final 4:37.
Cincinnati 59, Central Michigan 54
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team held off Central Michigan on Wednesday night for a 59-54 win in Fifth Third Arena. Cincinnati improves to 4-3 on the season, with all four of their wins coming at home.
The Bearcats shot 43.1% from the field and 81.8% from the free throw line while holding the Chippewas to 35.2% field goal shooting. Sophomore guard Jillian Hayes led the team with a season and career high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Junior point guard Akira Levy also scored a new career and season high of 19 points to go along with seven assists. She made 3-of-4 from three point range.
The Bearcats flew out of the gates offensively as they shot 60% from the field in the first quarter. Cincinnati was led by Levy's 10 points and perfect shooting percentage from the floor as she made her first four shots.
It was all about the defense in the second quarter as Cincinnati held Central Michigan to five points, which is tied for lowest in a quarter this season (five vs. Western Carolina on 11/23/21). Cincinnati forced two 10-second violations and a shot clock violation during an impressive defensive stand. Levy contributed on 10 out of the 16 first half baskets with 14 points and five assist before the break. Hayes led all scorers in the first half with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
The stifling defense continued into the second half as the Bearcats held their opponents to 30.3% shooting in the second half. Cincinnati only shot 26.1% in the second half, but rode their tough defense to a 59-54 win.
Akira Levy led the team with seven assists and contributed 19 points and two rebounds. She was perfect to start the game making her first five shots. Jillian Hayes put up 23 points and five rebounds. This was a season and career high for the sophomore. Her previous best was 20 vs. Temple in January.