WILMINGTON, N.C. – Behind one of the best offensive performances of the season, the East Carolina women’s basketball team blew out UNCW 79-50 on Sunday afternoon.

East Carolina improves to 6-6 on the season with a 1-5 road mark while UNCW drops to 2-7.

How It Happened

  • For the third straight game, Taniyah Thompson got off to a hot start in the first quarter. Thompson came into the day averaging 10.5 points in the opening frame over her past two games and she was even better on Sunday. The junior guard shot 6-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first 10 minutes, outscoring UNCW 15-11 all by herself.
  • Thompson was not the only Pirate to find success on the offensive end, Da’Ja Green had five points and three assists and ECU shot 11-of-17 from the floor and 4-of-7 from three in the opening frame. That helped East Carolina run out to a 26-11 lead.
  • While East Carolina’s offense came back to earth in the second quarter, the defense made sure the lead continued to balloon. The Pirates held UNCW to just 3-of-8 shooting and forced nine turnovers. On the other end, six different Pirates scored and ECU had five assists on nine field goals. That led to a 46-22 lead at the break.
  • After scoring two points in the second, Thompson was again at the forefront of ECU’s offense in the third. She added 10 more points to give her 27 in the game while also grabbing three rebounds. The Pirate defense held UNCW to 30.8% shooting and extended the lead to 63-36 heading into the fourth.
  • The highlight of the fourth quarter came when Thompson buried a baseline jumper to crack the 30 point mark as neither team shot the ball well in the final quarter.

Leading Pirates

  • Thompson finished with a career-high 31 points, the first 30-point game by a Pirate since Lashonda Monk scored 32 at Cincinnati on Dec. 20, 2020. The junior guard added six rebounds and was +31 in 33 minutes of action.
  • Green narrowly missed her season-high in points, scoring 12 points while adding five assists and three rebounds.
  • Raven Johnson finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, both of which are season-highs for the graduate student.
  • Chambers scored eight points, added six rebounds and blocked three shots.

ECU Notes

  • East Carolina made a season-high 33 field goals, shooting above .500 for the second time this season as the Pirates finished 33-of-64 (.516) from the floor.
  • The Pirates outscored the Seahawks 26-12 in bench points, 38-20 in points in the paint, 26-8 in points off turnovers and 14-6 in second chance points.

Up Next

The Pirates will close out the 2021 portion of their schedule with a final nonconference home game. ECU will welcome UMES to Minges Coliseum on Tuesday afternoon with tipoff at 3 p.