The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team had another win on the road against East Carolina 76-63, but they were not able to win their second game of the weekend against Conference USA leader Charlotte. The Billikens fell just short with 70-58 as the final score on Sunday’s game.
The Bills defeated East Carolina in last Friday’s game with the help of Harmonie King, who had a career high of 22 points. The East Carolina Pirates scored first in the game with a jump shot, and then again with a layup. King gave the Bills their first basket of the game with a three-pointer, cutting the Pirates’ lead to one.
That was the closest the Bills would come to the lead in the first half. The Pirates held their largest lead of the half, with 13 points, after scoring a layup off a fast break 10 minutes into the game.
“They were playing a zone, and we needed to penetrate the zone more and get the ball inside to get more shots,” said King. The Bills slowly chipped away at the Pirates’ lead, ending the half with a 9-3 run. The Bills trailed 36-33 going into the second half.
“We realized we needed to wake up on defense,” King said. “Everybody needed time to get going.”
For the second half, the Bills were able to tie the game with a basket by Jana Haywood. A Pirates layup would give the lead right back, but they quickly lost it again when Star Jackson hit a three pointer at the 17:41 mark. The Bills had the lead, 40-39, for the first time in the game.
With 13:47 remaining, and the game tied at 46-46, the Bills’ Amie Van Deurzen sank a free throw to give the Billikens a lead that they wouldn’t lose. They continued to increase the margin by going on an 11-2 run and had a 68-59 advantage with 2:22 left in the game. The Bills had six free throws to finish off the game in the last 1:22, to win 76-63.
“Anytime you get easy shots early, it makes it easier,” said King. “I was more aggressive, taking less outside shots and driving the ball inside and getting fouled.” Three other Billikens scored in double digits; Angie Lewis, Stephanie Solomon and Jackson each added 11 points. The Bills out-rebounded ECU 42-32 and forced 21 turnovers, which led to 13 points.
The Bills were not able to make their second game of the weekend a win. They lost 70-58 to Charlotte, who is ranked first in conference play. Haywood started the game off with a three-pointer, but Charlotte answered with nine straight points. The Bills responded with their own 7-0 run, for a 10-9 lead, and continued their attack, going on a 9-0 run with two three-pointers, one from King and the other from Kirsti Holloway.
With 8:06 left in the half, the Bills had the lead 25-15. The 49ers went on an 11-0 run with three three-pointers and regained the lead 26-25, with 5:00 remaining.
“We had too many long sessions without scoring,” said King. “We need to be more consistent with our scoring.” The half ended with a 32-27 lead for the 49ers.
To start the second half, King had a three and Solomon had her own layup right after, to tie the game 32-32. With Charlotte regaining the lead 49-40, the Bills went on a 7-0 run to bring them within two points with 9:33 left in the game.
“We need to keep the turnovers to a minimum, at least 13, probably less than that,” said King.
Charlotte went on a run of their own and made their lead 58-51 at the 6:13 mark. Charlotte’s Leslie Cook sank two three-point shots to give the 49ers a nine-point lead, with 4:25 remaining in the game. They then scored a layup to again increase the lead 66-55, with four minutes left.
“We need to penetrate more and be aggressive. Instead, we became more tentative,” King said. Charlotte sank four free throws in the last two minutes to end the game.
King scored 16 points as high scorer for the Bills, and Solomon and Haywood each had 11 points of their own to add. The 49ers had 9 three-pointers in the game and shot 17-19 from the free throw line.
