Kelly Smith(ER) and Allison Spivey(HPC) lead ECU, but Lady Pirates fall at Hattiesburg

Lady Pirates Fall Short At Southern Miss
Ariana Jackson Scores A Career-high 13 Points

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The East Carolina women’s basketball team fell behind early and
could never recover, dropping a 59-55 contest at Southern Miss Thursday at Reed
Green Coliseum. The Lady Pirates fell to 17-5 overall and 6-3 in league play while
the Golden Eagles won their second-straight to move to 6-15 overall and 2-6 in C-USA
action.

Southern Miss took an 8-6 lead in the first four minutes, thanks to two triples from
Danielle Johnson. The teams traded the lead throughout much of the period, before
Tanesha Washington gave the Golden Eagles a six-point advantage as the clock ticked
under four minutes. That lead would stay at 33-27 at the break.

Kelly Smith(Eastern Randolph) scored eight points to lead ECU while Allison Spivey(High Point Central) added seven. Ashley Clarke and Jean Best both pulled down four rebounds while Kim Gay had three assists. Candace Rucker paced Southern Miss with 11 points and Pauline Love corralled seven rebounds.

The Golden Eagles shot 51.7 percent in the half as compared to 40.7 for the Lady
Pirates, who had the slight rebounding advantage 16-15. Southern Miss also recorded
five blocks.

ECU fell behind by 10 as the second period began, but would tie the game with a
Clarke free throw with under 10 minutes left. The Lady Pirates would stay within
striking distance, but could not get over the hump as the Golden Eagles took the
win.

Freshman Ariana Jackson netted a career-high 13 in the loss while Spivey put in 12.
Clarke pulled down six rebounds and a trio of ECU players handed out three assists.

Southern Miss shot 43.6 from the floor while holding the Lady Pirates to just 37.3
percent. East Carolina held the slight margin on the boards, picking up 37 to 36 for
the home team. Free throw shooting hurt the Lady Pirates, as they converted just
five of their 13 attempts.

East Carolina completes the weekend with a contest at UCF Saturday. Tipoff at the
UCF Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.