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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Same court, different night, women instead of men playing basketball for the final time in the regular season in the Cam Henderson Center.

Royce Chadwick’s team scored 70, usually a score that has guaranteed a Marshall win, as the Herd was 7-0 in games it scored 70 or more. Adding to the trends in MU’s favor, the home team was 9-0 in the series between the Thundering Herd and the Pirates of East Carolina.

Wednesday night, both of those trends went out the window in a tough loss to ECU, as the Thundering Herd women’s basketball team cut a 15-point halftime deficit to just one point late,

But it was not enough as East Carolina came away with a 75-70 win in Wednesday’s regular season finale at the Cam Henderson Center.

“I thought that we had a lot of emotion to start the game, a lot of energy and were very, very focused,” said Chadwick. “I think the emotion of Senior Night brought us a lot of energy.

“When that energy went away, we went into a lull that lasted the rest of the first half and put us into a deep hole to come back from.”

The game was similar to the Senior Night the night before at “The Cam,” when the men’s team trailed UTEP by 11 in the second half, cut it to two points late but fell to the Miners by four points. Just like in the men’s game, a three at the end of the first half took some of the energy out of both the men’s and women’s teams.

“In the second half, I was proud of our battling back,” said Chadwick. “Our defense was not as good as it could be, but we’ll make changes and get ready for the tournament. We just couldn’t get a break in the second half.”

Again, like last night for the men’s seniors, three seniors from the women’s team lost their final MU home game: Chantelle Handy and Kendra King, both fifth-year forwards, and Angelica Harris, a junior college forward who played two seasons at Marshall.

King went out strong with a 6-of-8 shooting night, 2-for-2 at the free throw line, six rebounds, three assists and a steal to score 14 points.

It was her sixth game in a row having double-digit scoring. King, in her career, has 585 points and 469 rebounds.

Tynikki Crook drove past ECU's Ariana Jackson in the first half of ECU's 75-70 win in Huntington Wednesday night. Crook finished with 21 points to lead all scorers.  photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

Jean Best of ECU tallied five points in the run, which was finally halted when Chantelle Handy jump chucked a three-pointer to make it a 22-14 game in favor of the Pirates.

East Carolina kept the pedal on the metal for the remainder of the period, stretching its lead to 15 points at the half. The Pirates hit 5-of-12 three-pointers in the half, including two in the final minute to establish a 39-24 advantage at the break.

One of the major factors in the first half was rebounding as the Pirates took a 21-12 lead on the glass in the first half while outshooting the Herd, .536-.357. Tynikki Crook scored 11 in the first half to lead all players.

Crook picked up right where she left off in the second half, scoring the first five points for Marshall as it opened the stanza on a 14-4 run to cut the lead to five, 43-38, less than five minutes into the half.

Marshall kept the run going. With ECU up 54-50, a three-pointer by Mystee Dale got the Herd within a point, but from there it was all Pirates as they extended their lead back up to as many as eight points before taking the five-point win.

Handy scored 11 points and led the Herd with six assists on the night, giving her 982 points and 251 assists in her career. Handy started her 107th game and appeared in her 124th game in the green and white

Harris had five points, giving her 150 points in two years, and added four rebounds to top 100 in her career with 102 boards

Junior forward Tynikki Crook led Marshall (14-15, 6-10 C-USA) with 21 points before fouling out with 6:14 left in the second half, the key moment late in the final home game for either the men or women at the Henderson Center, where the women entered the game 4-3 but finish at .500 for the season.

East Carolina (20-9, 9-7 C-USA) was led by a 19-point performance from 6-foot-5 wide body Jean Best, who hit 19 points for the third time in her career but a season-best for the sophomore who entered tonight averaging just six points per game.

The Herd really had no answer for Best after Crook fouled out.
The Pirates hit 5-of-12 three-pointers in the half, including two in the final minute, to establish a 39-24 advantage at the break.

To start the game, Marshall came out the blocks pretty well on Senior Night, grabbing a four-point lead on back to back baskets from Crook.

The Herd led 11-8 at the 13:00 minute mark on a Veronica Ruiz lay-up, but it would be all Pirates in the next six and one-half minutes.

ECU went on a 14-0 run to take control of the game with an 11-point lead. The Herd missed nine shots before Handy hit a three to cut the lead to 22-11.

The lead continued to bounce between eight and 11 points down the final 6:30 of the half, but the Pirates saved the best for last.

In the final three minutes of the half, Marshall forced three of the 11 first-half turnovers that had slowed ECU early but gave the ball right back with three turnovers (of nine).

Stewart hit a three with 3:05, but the real damage was done by a three with 28 seconds left by Kelly Smith. Then Allison Spivey hit a three with five seconds left to lead ECU to their biggest lead of the half, up 15 points at 39-24.

“In the second half, I was proud of our battling back, but the way we allowed two threes in the last seconds took some energy out of our locker room,” said Chadwick. “Our defense was not as good as it could be, but we’ll make changes and get ready for the tournament. We just couldn’t get a break in the second half.”
Rebounding, usually a category the Herd is dominate, was owned by the Pirates as they out-rebounded the Herd by nine, 21-12. ECU was also out-shooting the Herd in the first half, by 54 percent to just 36 percent. Crook scored 11 in the first half to lead all players.

Chadwick talked about just not converting some big possessions in the second half that even with the hole the Herd dug in the first half, could have still lead to the win.

“We would get out on a break, and – no, we get a charge. We have a steal and turnover on the other end and – no, it wasn’t ours, it was a kicked ball.”

That ball came off the high thigh of an ECU player, which, according to the rule book, is not the same as a foot kicking the ball.”
Coming out of the break, Crook picked up right where she left off in the second half by scoring the first five points for Marshall. The Herd eventually was on a 14-4 run to cut the lead to five, 43-38, less than five minutes into the half.
Marshall kept the run going.  With ECU up 54-50, a three-pointer by junior guard Mystee Dale got the Herd within one, but that was as close as the Herd would be the rest of the way.

From there, it was all Pirates, extending the lead to eight points before taking the five-point win.

“Sometimes, I think we try to be too perfect,” said Chadwick of numerous games this year where his team has fallen behind then had to work to rally in the second half.

“Basketball is a read-and-react game. We came back in the second half and did it one play at a time. We showed a lot of character and fight to get back in the game. We have to limit those lulls we have had this season.”
Crook led all players with 21 points and was the top rebounder for MU with seven boards.   Dale was the final double-digit scorer for the Herd with ten points.
East Carolina’s Kim Gay added 13 to Best’s 19, but they were the only double-digit scorers for ECU. Marshall did not play poorly as much as ECU played very well.

The Herd shot 45 percent from the floor, bettering the season shooting average of 41 percent. Marshall hit 4-of-9 from behind the arc, hitting 44 percent and also 75 percent from the line. The Herd also had ten steals and two blocks, plus six less turnovers than the Pirates (15-to-21).

But ECU shot 54 percent (26-of-48) and 78 percent from the line (18-of-23). The bench scored 41 points for the Pirates.
Tonight’s game wrapped up the regular season for the Herd as it will head to the Conference USA Tournament, beginning on Monday in Tulsa, Okla.  Its first round opponent will be determined following play on Thursday evening.

The Herd is in a three-way tie for ninth at 6-10 in C-USA, with Tulsa (who lost at SMU tonight, 71-52) and UTEP (who lost 66-64 in El Paso to league-leader Tulane).

UCF is eighth for now at 6-9, but face a tough game against Memphis, who is 10-5 and in second place, in Birmingham, Ala. Wednesday night. Rice, at 7-8 and tied with UAB for sixth, will travel across town to face Houston, who at 9-6 in the league, needs a win to clinch the fourth spot in the standings and the bye for Monday’s round one of the C-USA Tournament at The University of Tulsa’s Reynolds Center on the TU campus.

The men will begin play on Wednesday, March 10, at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.

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