TU Women Fall To East Carolina

Ashley Clark scored a career-high 26 points and Antoinet Webster tied her personal-best with 10, but it wasn't enough as Tulsa dropped a 78-69 decision to East Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, N.C.

TU fell to 11-15 on the season and 5-10 in Conference USA, while ECU moved to 22-6 overall and 10-5 in the league.

Clark also had a team-best eight rebounds, two steals and two assists, while Kadan Brady added 11 points, and both Mariah Turner and Kelsee Grovey scored six points.

Tulsa went to the line 34 times, scoring 25 points from the charity stripe, compared to ECU's 15-of-26 from the line. TU, which averages almost six trey's a game, scored just 2-of-7, while the Pirates hit 11-of-28 in the contest.

TU shot 39 percent from the field, just 28 percent from 3-point range and 73 percent from the free throw line, while ECU was 39 percent from the field, 39 percent from behind the arc and 57 percent from the charity stripe in the contest.

The Pirates' Kristine Mial had 17 points, 15 of which were scored from 3-pointers, while J'Kyra Brown also had 17 points and Shae Nelson added 12 points. Jada Payne pulled down a team-leading 10 rebounds, Janesha Ebron had nine assists and Ondrea Shaw had five blocks.

Clark put Tulsa on the board with just 14 seconds ticked off the clock and Autura Campbell recorded a free throw, but Jada Payne quickly tied the score at 3-3. TU went up again on a jumper by Clark, but Kristine Mial hit her first three of the contest to give ECU a one-point edge. The Pirates maintained the lead until Clark's free throw at the 5:33 mark tied the contest at 23-23.

Both teams traded baskets and the lead changed four times in the next 3:22 off the clock, but Mial hit another three to give East Carolina the advantage for the remainder of the half, outscoring TU, 7-2, in the final two minutes of the frame. Despite a nearly seven minute span without a field goal for Tulsa from 14:07 to 7:11, the Hurricane trailed by just seven (37-30) at the break, ECU's largest advantage of the half.

TU shot 40 percent from the field, 33 percent from behind the arc and 64 percent from the charity stripe, while ECU shot 37 percent from the field, 28 percent from 3-point range and 46 percent from the free throw line.

In the second half, East Carolina just continued to inch ahead, climbing to a game-best 18-point advantage with 5:33 left to play. TU cut that deficit in half for the final nine-point loss, outscoring the Pirates 14-5 in the final 5:33.

The Pirates had a 45-37 lead in rebounds, a 20-7 advantage in assists, a 10-6 lead in steals and a 6-2 advantage in blocks. Tulsa had 20 points off the bench, 18 points in the paint and 15 points off turnovers, while ECU had 38 points off the bench as it was senior night and it wasn't a typical starting lineup, 26 points off turnovers and 24 points in the paint.

Tulsa will close out the regular season at home against Charlotte on Wednesday. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.