photos by Art Boone Jr
FORT WORTH, Texas – The East Carolina women’s basketball team downed eighth-seeded Memphis, 65-63, on Sunday afternoon in Dickies Arena. Tatyana Wynche and Amiya Joyner both posted double-doubles and Danae McNeal scored 19 points in the victory. The University of Memphis women’s basketball team’s season came to an end in the Second Round of the AAC Championship as it suffered the 65-63 heartbreaking loss to East Carolina. Memphis finishes the season 13-17 overall.
Memphis took a quick 5-0 lead afterMadison Griggs hit back-to-back shots in the opening minutes of the game. The Tigers and Pirates went back-and-forth with buckets throughout the first 10 minutes with East Carolina taking the 14-11 lead into the second frame.
It was all Memphis in the second quarter; after three consecutive possessions with Griggs,Kai Carter and Destyne Jackson all scoring, the Tigers extended their lead out to 27-20 and forced Kim McNeill to burn a timeout with 3:35 left in the half.
ECU would use that moment and charge back into the game, cutting the deficit to just two points just 65 seconds into the second half – an 8-0 run in just over a minute of play.
The teams battled back and forth for a while after that before a Joyner and-one bucket leveled the game at 43 and a Khia Miller jump shot put the Pirates back in front with under four minutes to play in the third.
The Pirates would go on to lead by as many as seven points in the quarter before Memphis put on a run in the final period to take the lead back just after the final media timeout. The Tigers held the lead for a couple of minutes before Tatyana Wyche, who was simply fabulous in the game, knocked in a pair of free throws to give the Pirates their final lead of the game with 2:28 remaining.
It only got better for the Tigers from there. Memphis took its largest lead of the half following Griggs’ third long ball of the day for the 10-point advantage. Despite the Pirates hanging one last basket before the buzzer, Memphis took the 34-26 lead into halftime.
East Carolina came back to the court and took no prisoner – stringing together a 26-point third quarter to take its largest lead of the day at seven with 14 seconds left in the third frame.
Destyne Jacksonaid in a basket just before the buzzer to make it a 52-47 game heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. Memphis did everything it could to pull itself out of the hole, finally getting back on top after Alasia Smith completed an and-one with 4:42 remaining on the clock. Carter added in one final bucket for the Tigers at the four-minute mark, but it would be the last as East Carolina held Memphis scoreless until the final buzzer.
The Pirates got four free throws late in the game to tie, and eventually, take the lead as they secured the 65-63 win. Madison Griggs led the team 16 points.