Wednesday, February 9
East Carolina 61, Wichita State 59 (OT)
A frantic finish in overtime saw the East Carolina women's basketball team hold on for a 61-59 victory over visiting Wichita State on Wednesday night in Minges Coliseum.
ECU improves to 9-14 on the season with a 2-8 AAC record while Wichita State drops to 11-11 overal with a 2-7 league record.
Taniyah Thompson got East Carolina off to a hot start, as the junior guard hit a pair of three's in the opening frame while Synia Johnson also added a triple. That helped stretch the lead to 13-5 in the early going, but Wichita State finished the quarter on a 5-0 kick to make it 13-10 after one.
In the second quarter, ECU could not buy a bucket while Wichita State was red hot. The Pirates shot just 4-of-12 in the third, with Iycez Adams providing a boost by scoring four points. On the other end, the Shockers shot 10-of-14, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Wichita State closed the half on a 15-2 run to take a 34-21 lead at the break.
ECU needed a spark in the third quarter to prevent the game from getting away from them. That spark came in the form of stout defense and the offensive prowess of Thompson. ECU held Wichita State to just 2-of-18 (.111) shooting in the third. On the other end, Thompson scored eight points thanks to four free throws while Tylar Bennett chipped in four of her own. That helped the Pirates cut the lead down to a manageble 42-38 heading into the final quarter.
It did not take long in the fourth for the Pirates to retake the lead. Bennett got a put back and then a three from Da'Ja Green made it 43-42 in favor of ECU. That set off a fourth quarter that contained four lead changes and three ties. First, Wichita State grabbed a four point lead. But the Pirates answered with five points by Thompson and a layup from Morgan Moseley to take a three-point lead. Wichita State outscored ECU 5-1 at the free throw line over the next four and half minutes, which left the teams all square with 30 seconds remaining. Wichita State came out of a timeout and ate up clock before Nhug Bosch Duran got free and canned a triple, her fourth of the night.
Deja vu set in for the Pirates, as they trailed by three with under 10 seconds remaining for the second straight game. Just like it did on Sunday, ECU ran a play for Thompson to get a look from beyond the arc and just like Temple did, Wichita State fouled Thompson, sending her to the line for three shots. However, unlike the Temple game in which Thompson went 2-of-3 at the line, the junior guard buried all three to tie the game. The Shockers had one more chance to take the lead, but a block by Bennett sent the game to overtime.
Early in the overtime period, the Pirates took control as Johnson made 5-of-6 from the line to make it 59-54 with 2:22 remaining. But this game had one more twist in it as the Shockers got a pair of free throws from Seraphine Bastin and a triple from Mariah McCully with 52 seconds left to tie the game once again. On the Pirates next possession, the shot clock was running down and Green pulled up for a jumper. Her attempt rolled off the rim, but Thompson was there to put it back up and in. Wichita State again had the ball looking to send the game to a second overtime, but Bennett got her second clutch block to close out the nail-biting victory.
Thompson finished with 29 points for the second straight game. She also extends her streak of double figure scoring games to 14 straight games and 21 of 23 games overall.
ECU is now 9-0 this season when scoring at least 60 points. It was also the first win this season for the Pirates when they trailed heading into the fourth quarter.
It was the first overtime game in charge for head coach Kim McNeill and the first overtime game since March 8, 2019 in which the Pirates topped SMU in the AAC Championship First Round.
SMU 71, Cincinnati 66
The SMU women's basketball team had five players score at least 10 points and held on late for a 71-66 win at Cincinnati.
Kayla White led the team with 16 points. Savannah Wilkinson finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Danielle Sanderlin scored 10 with eight rebounds. Reagan Bradley reached double figures for the third time this season with 11 points and Sydne Wiggins added 13.
Cincinnati (10-12, 3-7 American Athletic Conference) scored the first four points of the game. SMU (11-9, 5-2 The American) took its first lead at the 4:41 mark of the first quarter when Wiggins scored off a Jasmine Smith steal. The Mustangs never trailed again. By the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs held a 21-12 lead.
SMU stretched the lead to 10 midway through the second quarter, 30-20 with 6:52 on the clock when White knocked down a 3. The Bearcats pulled within four, but SMU led by eight at the half, 38-30. Sanderlin scored the first basket of the second half to extend the lead back to 10. Cincinnati pulled within 3 twice during the quarter, but SMU held a 10-point lead with 10 minutes to play.
The Mustangs led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter, but Cincinnati's aggressive play led to 12 free throws in the quarter, including eight in the final three minutes. With the lead just three, Bradley made two free throws at the other end of the court to seal the victory.
Smith finished with seven assists, five rebounds, four points and three steals. SMU shot 44.4 percent from the field while holding the Bearcats to a 38.6 shooting percentage.
South Florida (RV) 49, Temple 40
The University of South Florida women's basketball team got back on the winning track on Wednesday night leading wire to wire and grinding out a hard-fought 49-40 win at Temple at McGonigle Hall. The win improves the Bulls to 17-6 on the year and 7-2 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Owls fall to 11-10 overall and 6-4 in league play.
Elena Tsineke dropped in 13 points and the post tandem of Bethy Mununga and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu added 13 points and 12 rebounds and 11 points and 15 rebounds, respectively in the win. It was the 10th and fourth double-doubles for Mununga and Fankam Mendjiadeu while Fankam Mendjiadeu's 15 rebounds fall two short of tying her career-high.
Elisa Pinzan finished just shy of double figures with eight points. In addition, with her first assist of the night, Pinzan became the third player in program history to hand out 500 career assists, joining Shantia Grace (2005-09, 610) and Laia Flores (2014-18, 519).
The Bulls led by 11 points at the break, 28-17, which was their largest advantage of the game. Temple came out in the second half and outscored South Florida, 14-4, to cut the Bulls' lead to one, 32-31, with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter. The Owls, however, could not take advantage as they only scored five of the final 14 points of the quarter.
South Florida didn't look back the final 10 minutes taking control and finishing the game on a 6-0 run over the last two minutes.
UCF (RV) 54, Houston 44
A fourth-quarter rally led the UCF women's basketball team to a 54-44 win over Houston in the Fertitta Center on Wednesday evening.
UCF (17-3, 9-1 The American) started off strong, shooting 46.2 percent in the first quarter and led Houston (11-12, 4-7 The American) 15-10 at the end of the opening frame. The Cougars outscored the Knights, 14-4, in the second quarter and took a 24-19 lead into the locker rooms.
Houston opened the third quarter with a jumper to extend its lead to seven, 26-19, before the Knights locked in. The Black and Gold defense held the Cougars to just six points in the third period and a three-pointer from Diamond Battles in the final minute of the frame pulled UCF within one, 30-29.
Battles found Masseny Kaba in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to give UCF the lead, 31-30. The teams traded baskets, and leads, over the next four minutes of action before a Battles three-pointer put the Knights in front for good. UCF poured in 25 points in the final period to pull away from the Cougars and complete the regular season sweep of Houston.
Diamond Battles came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of her game-high 19 points in the final 10 minutes. She was one of three Knights in double figures as Masseny Kaba added 11 points and Alisha Lewis chipped in 10. Kaba had four steals and Destiny Thomas pulled down 10 rebounds.
The Knights had 14 assists on 18 field goals. Kaba, Battles and Lewis finished with three assists each.