Sophomore guard Laila Blair’s 16 points powered UH women’s basketball past ECU on Wednesday night. | Sean Thomas/The Cougar
The UH women’s basketball team took down East Carolina 67-55 at home on Wednesday night as head coach Ronald Hughey earned his 100th career victory with the win.
The Cougars now move to jump back to .500 on the season with a 12-12 overall record while sitting at 5-7 in conference play.
The first quarter started tipped off with ECU riding an early 9-3 run as the Cougars struggled to get going on offense early on.
Despite going 3-for-7 on 3-pointers nearing the end of the quarter, the Cougars shot their way back back into the game.
UH’s sophomore guard Laila Blair and ECU’s junior guard Taniyah Thompson led their teams with seven and nine points, respectively, as the Cougars held the 19-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams picked up where they left off in the second quarter as they continued to make shots with neither team gaining an edge or momentum.
The game began to tilt in the Cougars’ favor as they stretched out to a 32-26 lead near the end of the second quarter.
ECU struggled and fell into a four-minute scoring drought but a Thompson 3-pointer helped bring the Pirates back to a one-point deficit heading into halftime.
ECU’s junior guard Taniyah Thompson led all scorers at halftime with 23 points shooting 9-for-13 from the field while the Cougars shot over 50 percent in the first half.
ECU tied the game at 32-32 early in the third quarter, but a layup by UH junior forward Bria Patterson broke the tie and led to a quick 6-0 UH run.
UH led 38-32 midway through the quarter while the Cougar defense stifled the ECU offense for several minutes.
An 11-1 run throughout the third quarter helped the Cougars gain a 45-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, UH began to pull away through its impressive shooting night.
At the 5:11 mark of the fourth quarter, sophomore guard Laila Blair hit a 3-pointer to take a commanding 12-point lead.
The Cougars held on to all momentum for the remainder of the game as they closed the game hitting eight of their last ten field goals and holding the lead to double digits.
Blair’s 16 points and junior forward Jazmaine Lewis’s 13 points led the way for the Cougars as they picked up the intensity offensively to pull out the home victory.
