Lady Bulldogs Win Eighth Straight, as GWU Shuts Down High Scoring Lady Pirate Offense in 57-45 Home Win
December 06, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb women's team won its eighth straight game on Saturday afternoon, as the Lady Bulldogs shutdown the undefeated and high scoring East Carolina Lady Pirates in the 57-45 home win.
The win is the Lady Bulldogs first ever over East Carolina, now
1-4, and is also the first ever win over a Conference USA opponent
out of nine games (1-8).
Gardner-Webb is now 8-1 on the season, having won its last eight
straight games, while East Carolina falls to 7-1 on the season with
the loss.
East Carolina, who had received 16 votes in the last ESPN/USA Today
Top-25 Poll this week, did not intimidate the Lady Bulldogs, as
Gardner-Webb ran out to a quick 4-0 lead on back-to-back fast break
baskets by senior forward Margaret Roundtree, forcing the Lady
Pirates to take a early timeout less than a minute into the
contest.
The Lady Bulldogs refused to take its foot off the gas pedal, as
the home team pulled out to a 14-6 lead on a slashing lay up by
senior Meranda Burnett with 13:25 on the clock.
East Carolina cut the lead to five with 6:35 to play in the opening
half, only to have the Lady Bulldogs answer with a 9-2 run to take
its largest lead of the half at 27-15 with less than three minutes
to go before intermission.
The two teams traded points to send the score to the half in favor
of the Lady Bulldogs at 29-17, putting the Lady Pirates in
unfamiliar territory, as ECU had not trailed at the half at all
thus far this season.
The defense of the Lady Bulldogs held East Carolina to only six
made field goals (6-of-24) in the first half and forced them to
commit 13 turnovers, while GWU shot 45.5 percent from the field to
lead for the entire first 20 minutes of play.
Both teams came out of the halftime break struggling to score
points, as East Carolina's Allison Spivey hit a three-pointer
almost three minutes into the second half for the first basket,
cutting the Lady Bulldogs lead to nine at 29-20.
Gardner-Webb answered with an 8-0 run capped off by a lay up by
Sandra Vaitkute to take its largest lead of the game at 37-20 with
14:24 to play in regulation.
Yet the lead was not safe, as the Lady Pirates refused to go away,
running off 12 unanswered points to cut the Lady Bulldog lead to
four at 40-36 with 6:47 to go on the clock.
Gardner-Webb junior guard Courtney Epps hit perhaps the largest
shot of the game only 20 seconds later, draining a three-pointer
that hit nothing but net, ending the Lady Pirates run and putting
the lead back to three baskets at 43-36.
The Lady Pirates were able to get as close as five at 46-41 with a
little under five minutes remaining, yet down the stretch
Gardner-Webb proved to be too much, hitting 7-of-8 free throws in
the closing minutes to put the game away at 57-45.
The Gardner-Webb team defense was outstanding, as the Lady Pirates,
who were averaging 78.1 points per game on 50.4 percent shooting,
was held to 45 points, a season-low, on 29.3 percent shooting on
Saturday afternoon.
Junior guard Monique Hudson led the way offensively for
Gardner-Webb, has she had 16 points off the bench in 31 minutes.
Roundtree also scored in double-digits with 12 points, while Epps,
Burnett and Dominique Hudson all had seven points apiece.
East Carolina's Kelly Smith poured in a team-high 11 points for the
Lady Pirates, while guard Ashley Clarke had 10 points for the
game.
The Lady Bulldogs eight game winning streak will be put to the test
in its next contest, as Gardner-Webb will have eight days before
they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. to face off with the No. 4
nationally ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday, December
13th, at 3 p.m.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 57, East Carolina 45 |
