Sports Women's Basketball

UH women’s basketball falls in triple overtime at East Carolina

The Cougars fell just short 88-83 after three overtime periods on the road against East Carolina. | Sean Thomas/The Cougar

The Houston women’s basketball team narrowly fell to East Carolina 88-83 in a triple-overtime thriller on the road on Wednesday.

East Carolina took the early lead, scoring the first three field goals of the game.

The Cougars eventually found their rhythm in the final minutes of the first period, orchestrating a run that gave them the lead as the quarter neared its end. 

UH was able to grow its lead to five points before East Carolina finished the period with a layup to lead 16-13 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter, UH held onto its lead but was not able to extend it.

Both squads exchanged scores before East Carolina found its rhythm and evened the score 25-25.

Neither side was able to pull away in the second period as UH held a slim 34-30 lead at halftime.

Senior forward Bria Patterson led the Cougars in first half scoring with eleven points. Graduate student forward Tatyana Hill controlled the boards with a team-high five rebounds in the first half.

Still led by Patterson, UH took control in the third quarter. 

En route to expanding its lead to as high as 14 points, UH saw Patterson and redshirt senior Britney Onyeje as their lone scorers in the third period with nine and eight points respectively.

In the final two minutes of the third period, East Carolina put together a 7-0 run to see it trail UH by seven points.

Entering the final period of regulation, the Cougars looked poised to hold onto their lead. Propelled by Patterson and Hill, UH went on an 8-0 run to take a 59-47 lead.

The Cougars, though, went cold down the stretch.

Over the course of the final six minutes of regulation, East Carolina ate away at the UH lead, culminating a game-tying pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining that set the game at 62-62 as time expired.

In overtime, Patterson and Onyeje led the way for UH, though the Cougars were trailing by two with just seven seconds remaining before a layup ensured their survival for another period.

The second overtime was also tight through five minutes.

Hill went to the free throw line with 24 seconds remaining and the Cougars trailing 80-79. Missing the first attempt, the Cougars missed an opportunity to potentially seal the game in their favor and settled for a third overtime.

The third overtime had little contest between the squads as East Carolina pulled away to lead by seven points.

A last-second layup from UH tightened the deficit to five points, but the Cougars did not have enough time left to further capitalize, and UH fell 88-83 in a triple-overtime thriller.

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