By Staff
ECU Sports Information
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Gabriela Husarova’s three-pointer with 51 seconds to play proved to be the game winner as East Carolina held on to defeat Big East foe Georgetown 61-60 Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the 2007 Hokie Hardwood Classic.
The Lady Pirates will now face the winner of the Furman/Virginia Tech game on Sunday, Dec. 30 in the championship game. ECU improves to 6-6 on the year, while Georgetown falls to 8-3.
The Hoyas jumped out to the early 2-0 lead on a Kenya Kirkland jumper. Six straight points from LaCoya Terry and a three pointer from Shuanda Ashford gave East Carolina the 9-2 lead at the first media timeout.
Georgetown scored six unanswered points to pull within one, 9-8, with 13:23 remaining in the half. Terry’s four foot jumper at the 11:00 mark ended a four and a half minute drought by the Lady Pirates, and increased the teams lead out to three, 11-8.
Sparked by a Krystle Hatton basket with 10:22 on the clock, the Hoyas put together a 9-3 run, taking the 17-14 lead on a Monica McNutt three pointer. Jasmine Young’s second three-pointer of the contest tied the game at 21 a-piece with 3:26 left until the half. GU retook the lead, 23-21, with three minutes to play, and went into the break with a 30-22 halftime advantage, scoring the final seven points of the stanza.
Brina Pollack increased the Hoyas lead to ten, 32-22, to open the second half. Terry pulled the Lady Pirates back, scoring five straight points, cutting the lead down to 32-27 with 18 minutes to play. Kieraah Marlow’s jumper with 16:21 on the clock stretched the GU lead out to seven, but a three-pointer by Young cut the ECU deficit back down to four with 15:55 remaining in the contest. GU’s Marlow connected on a pair of free throws before Lauren Cochran hit back to back layups. Terry’s jumper with 14:08 on the clock pulled ECU within three, 39-36. Monica McNutt hit her third trey of the game to put GU back up by six before the Lady Pirates went on a 10-2 run to retake the lead, 48-46, on another Cochran layup with 10:00 remaining. A Pollack jumper tied the game at 48-48, but Terry’s bucket on the next possession gave the Lady Pirates the 48-46 advantage with 8:38 to play. Husarova’s jumper at the 5:10 mark gave ECU the seven point, 56-49, lead. Marlow scored four unanswered points to pull the Hoyas within three, 56-53, with four minutes left on the clock. A pair of Nicole Days free throws extended the East Carolina lead back out to five. The Hoyas went on a 5-0 run over the next minute to tie the game at 58 all with just 2:21 on the clock. Husarova’s three-pointer with 51.5 seconds to play gave the Lady Pirates the three-point advantage with time expiring. Marlow hit a layup with 36 seconds remaining to pull the Hoyas within one, 61-60, but it was not enough, as the Lady Pirates held on for the victory.
Terry finished the day with a game-high 19 points while Cochran added 10, all coming in the second half. Husarova and Young each added nine points, while Young dished out 11 assists on the day as well. For the Hoyas, Marlow had 19 points and 10 rebounds while McNutt finished with 15 points and Pollack added 11. ECU shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half while holding the Hoyas to just 37.9 percent.
The Lady Pirates return to action on Sunday, Dec. 29 as they will face the winner of the Furman/Virginia Tech contest in the championship game slated for 3:30 p.m.