March 3, 2007

Box Score | Highlights

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TULSA, Okla. - No. 2 seed UAB found itself in another nail-biter, but No. 3 seed East Carolina ultimately hung on for an 85-81 win in the semifinals of the 2007 C-USA Women's Basketball Championship at Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Lady Pirates have advanced to their first-ever Conference USA Championship game.

LaCoya Terry scored 30 points and hit two free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining that ultimately sealed the win.

ECU built up a 52-46 lead after an 8-0 run capped by Terry's layup off a fast break. But the Blazers steadily climbed back and took a 67-65 lead with 7:11 remaining on Diamond Rogers' 3-pointer from the top of the key.

It was a seesaw battle the rest of the way with big shots coming one right after another. Terry hit the first of two free throws with 11.7 seconds remaining, and the Pirates led 83-81.

Carmen Guzman, the C-USA Player of the Year, drove the lane and missed a potential game-tying shot. She got the rebound but fell in a scrum and was called for traveling. Guzman finished with 26 points, and Rogers had 20.

The Pirates will now face No. 4 seed Rice in the championship game Sunday at 5:30 p.m. EST. The matchup will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

GAME QUOTES:
EAST CAROLINA HEAD COACH Sharon Baldwin-Tener
On the game:
"I'm just really proud of this basketball team. I think that we started off the season pretty tough and lost some confidence, but the way they've responded in the past couple of months and the way they've played and come together has been really exciting. UAB has a very good basketball team. It seems like every time we play them it's close and comes down to the last minute. I think there was a couple times where we could have folded today, but we continued to play hard. She [LaCoya Terry] may not always score 30 points, but she did tonight."

What are you guys going to need to do to get ready for tomorrow?
"I think Rice has a very good defense. They've shown it here in the tournament and held people way below their averages. They're all so big and long, they get their hands on things and contest shots, and they make it difficult to score. We are definitely going to have our work cut out for us. I think it's going to be a tough game. They're a different team than UAB. They are a lot bigger inside and I think it is going to be a really tough match up for us."

After you called that last timeout your girls came back on the floor looking rejuvenated. Where did that motivation come from?
"I didn't get on them, I was very calm because I think this basketball team does want to win. I felt like for the last half of the season every game we've played, we've played to win. I think the good thing that has happened here is that when we lost our lead we didn't lose our cool and were able to come back and make defensive stops and defensive rebounds that weren't there in the past games. LaCoya (Terry), to me, is our leader. She may not score as much or get as much attention as Jasmine (Young) and Cherie (Mills) do but when the game is on the line and things need to happen, LaCoya is the one that gathers the troops up and tells everyone what they need to do and how they're supposed to do it."

EAST CAROLINA SOPHOMORE GUARD LaCoya Terry
Talk about your season high and how much you wanted to win this game today and continue playing...
"I really wasn't trying to step up offensively, it just really comes to me. I think scoring 30 points was big for the team since our two leading scorers Jasmine (Young) and Cherie (Mills) didn't really have a big game as usual, so that was good."

What are you guys going to need to do to get ready for tomorrow?
"We need to play defense, score offensively and do what we usually do, nothing special."

How was this game different from the other two times you've played UAB this year?
"I think this game was like every other game, we score our points they score theirs, but I think in the end we stepped it up defensively."

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