The SMU women’s basketball team defeated the East Carolina University Pirates today in a 77-64 quarterfinal victory at the Conference USA Women’s Basketball Tournament in New Orleans.
Entering the tournament as the No.1 seed, the Mustangs faced No.8 seeded ECU after the Pirates defeated the University of Alabama at Birmingham yesterday in round one.
“We were concerned coming into this game,” said SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola. “East Carolina is a lot better ball club than their record.”
Junior forward Brittany Gilliam prevailed for the Mustangs on several occasions, hitting six of her nine three pointer attempts, giving her a game-high 28 points. Gilliam went on to shoot 8-15 from the field and 6-9 from the charity stripe. The team’s leading scorer also had four steals and three assists towards the Mustang’s effort.
“We all knew it was a big game coming in,” said Gilliam. “We just tried to get it done and we found a good way to wrap it up.”
With the help of freshman Christine Elliott guarding the basket with nine rebounds, the Mustangs closed out the first half with a 34-26 advantage, leading by as many as 13 points with just under three minutes remaining. Junior center Alice Severin was also an integral component in the Mustang’s win, despite having no points on the afternoon, but pulling down five boards and getting one block and one steal over the Pirates.
SMU struggled in the opening minutes of the second half, allowing ECU within just one point with 16:30 still remaining. The Pirates teamed up against the Mustangs, tying the game for the first time at 43-43 with just over 12 minutes remaining. A personal foul of junior Jillian Samuels cancelled her basket, but Gilliam stole the ball from ECU seconds later, leading to a clutch three-pointer to put SMU back on top, 46-43.
“The mark of a good team is when they don’t fold,” said Rompola. “I saw a different SMU team after that basket. I thought that was a defining moment.”
ECU’s defense continued to be a struggle for the Mustangs, as the Pirates went on to record nine of their twelve blocks in the final 20 minutes of play.
For the remainder of the game, the teams battled back and forth for a lead. SMU managed to hold ECU to within four points, but surrendered the lead twice, and let ECU tie the game on five occasions.
“For about seven minutes there we couldn’t stop their transition game,” said Rompola. “But in the last four of five minutes we really kicked in our transition game.”
With 3:35 remaining, Elliott connected on a pass from sophomore LaShandra Hill, tying the game and allowing SMU to gain back control for the final time of the afternoon.
A pair of free throws by sophomore Haley Day put SMU on top, 64-62 with 2:55 remaining, as the Mustangs gathered nine of their final 11 points from the free throw line.
The Mustangs will play tomorrow against No.5 Knights from the University of Central Florida at 2 p.m. If SMU wins tomorrow against UCF, they will advance to the championship game on Sunday at 2:30. The game can be seen live on CBS College Sports.
