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Lady Pirates fall hard in round one
From staff and
electronic reports
©2007 Bonesville.net.
It took 25 years for the
East Carolina women's basketball program to earn another chance to test
its mettle in the NCAA Tournament. It only took a few minutes for it to
become apparent that the Lady Pirates would still have to point to the future
to prove their merit.
No. 4 seed Rutgers (23-8)
raced to an early lead and poured it on to the end in routing
13th-seeded ECU 77-34 in the first round of the Greensboro Regional in
East Lansing, MI.
Matee Ajavon scored 20
points and Kia Vaughn had 14 points and 7 rebounds to propel the Scarlet
Knights to a second round matchup against Michigan State (24-8) on the
Lady Spartans home floor.
Rutgers put East Carolina
(19-13) on the ropes with a 13-0 run that produced a 31-12 margin with
7:24 left in the first half, then finished off the job by scoring the
first 12 points of the second half, leaving the Lady Pirates staring at
a hopeless 34-point deficit.
"Any time a team makes a
run like that, it's going to get into your head," ECU center Cherie
Mills said. "Still, we're not supposed to give up."
In the end, the blowout
might have served as a powerful impetus for the Lady Pirates to redeem themselves in the future.
"We'll learn from it,"
said Mills. "I'm pretty sure, that's not the last time you'll see East
Carolina."
The game, televised by
ESPN2 and ESPNU, marked the Lady Pirates' return to the NCAA tournament
for the first time since 1982, when they lost 79-54 to South Carolina in
their only previous appearance.
ECU coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener
cited poor shooting by her charges but also handed out credit to the
Scarlet Knights for the lopsided outcome.
"Rutgers is very
well-balanced, they can score inside and out, but I never would've
thought we would shoot 16 percent from the floor," Baldwin-Tener said.
"I'm not sure if we were nervous, or what, but Rutgers had a lot to do
with it."
East Carolina, which
punched its ticket to East Lansing by
defeating Rice in the Conference USA championship
game, came into the NCAA Tournament on a 10-game winning
streak.
PAGE UPDATED
03/19/07 05:43 AM.
©2007 Bonesville.net and
other publishers. All rights rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Game accounts and
statistics may be compiled from various sources, including but not limited
to staff, East Carolina University, opposing team and Conference USA reports.
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