SMU’s Sharee Shepherd attempts a basket during the team’s last home game at Moody on Feb. 17. (Lindsey Perkins)

The season came to an end in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament for the Mustangs. SMU fell to the ECU Pirates 76-62 in the quarterfinals.

Points were hard to come by last Friday night for SMU as it took just shy of four minutes to get the Mustangs on the board. SMU gained its first lead of the game with a 19-18 score.

The Mustangs shot just 28.6 percent from the floor in the first half. They only took two trips to the free-throw line, making both attempts. Even shooting poorly from the field, SMU was down by just four points at halftime, 32-28.

In the second half, the Mustangs got the ball to fall a little better than in the first half. SMU shot 32.4 percent in the second half, but missed all six three-point attempts.

The biggest discrepancy in the second half was getting to the free-throw line more often. In the second half, the Mustangs made their shots in 10 of their 15 attempts.

But there were only two Mustangs who could make it to the line: Janielle Dodds and Alice Severin. Dodds went 7-11 while Severin went 5-6.

Dodds led the way for SMU, scoring 29 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to lead the team in both categories and earning double-double. Dodds also played all but two minutes of the game.

Helping Dodds from the offensive side was Delisha Wills, the only other double-digit scorer, with 10 points.

Dodds also unexpectedly led in two categories. Along with Brittany Gilliam, Dodds had four assists to lead the team, and again with Gilliam and Jillian Samuels led the team with two steals.

The problem for SMU was that even though the Mustang offense improved, the Pirate offense improved even more.

ECU saw a nine-percent increase in shooting percentage and also saw more trips to the free-throw line.

The last time the Mustangs would see a lead in the game was with 5:14 left when the Mustangs matched their biggest lead of one point. Then the Pirates turned it on.

SMU did not make a shot in the last 1:35, allowing ECU to take control and finally take the game. The biggest lead for the Pirates came with just seven seconds left.

There are two things that the Mustangs can take from the game.

The first is that ECU went on to win the C-USA Championship.

The second is that while the season ends, the future looks bright for SMU. The Mustangs will return their entire lineup, as the only senior Katie Gross missed the entire season due to an injury and received a red-shirt year.

So while SMU fell short this season, next year should bring experience and better results.