By Staff
ECU Sports Information
GREENVILLE — For the second game in a row, a late foul cost the Lady Pirates the game, as Jurica Hargraves connected on all three shots from the free throw line with a tenth of a second on the clock to give the Panthers the 72-70 win. High Point improves to 2-2 on the season while the Lady Pirates fall to 1-3.
High Point jumped out to the early 7-1 lead, before back-to-back jumpers by Shana Franks pulled the Lady Pirates within two with 16 minutes to play in the half. Gabriela Husarova’s jumper gave ECU its first lead of the contests, 13-11, with 14:00 on the clock.
The Lady Pirates extended their lead to six, 23-17, on a Jasmine Young layup with just under ten minutes to play. ECU put together a 9-2 run, going up 34-23, with 5:09 to play. High Point, however, would hold the Lady Pirates to just three points in the closing minutes as Hargraves and Mackenzie Maier would combine for 10 points to lead the Panthers on a 14-3 run to close out the half and go into the break knotted at 37.
Lauren Cochran hit a pair of free throws with 2:50 to play to put the Lady Pirates up by two, 65-63.
High Point’s LaTeisha Dean connected on a pair of free throws on the next possession to tie the game at 65 all. Cochran put ECU up once again, this time on a layup on a pass from Young under the basket.
Nicole Days drew the offensive foul against the Panthers with 53.6 seconds to play to give the ball back to ECU. HPU’s Francis Fields fouled out of the game with 48.6 seconds to play, sending Young to the line, where she connected on the first of her two attempts, giving the Lady Pirates the two-point, 69-67 lead. Amber Manuel drove through the lane for the easy layup to tie the game at 69 a-piece with 21.7 seconds remaining. Young drew the foul with 4.9 seconds to play, heading back to the line, where she made the first but hit the front of the rim on the second, allowing High Point to take the final shot. As Hargraves was attempting a three-pointer with 00.1 seconds on the clock, she was fouled by Young, heading to the free throw for three shots. She hit all three, giving the Panthers the two-point, 72-70 victory.
Dean led all scorers with 16 points while Young and Cochran each had 12 points for ECU. Husarova tied her career high with a team best nine rebounds. The Panthers shot 42.4 percent on the night compared to just 36.9 percent for ECU. The Lady Pirates were 16-26 from the charity stripe on the night, shooting just 61.5 percent. HPU, however, shot 91.7 percent, going 11-of-12 from the line.
The Lady Pirates return home this weekend as they host the sixth annual Lady Pirate Invitational. East Carolina will face Winthrop Friday evening at 5:00 p.m., while Jacksonville will play UMass at 7:00. On Saturday, Winthrop will square off against either Jacksonville or UMass at 5:00 p.m., while the Lady Pirates will play at 8:00.