MYRTLE BEACH, SC –South Carolina State junior Taylor Brown tossed in 17 points to lead three Lady Bulldogs in double figures, and added a season-high 14 rebounds, but Coach Audra Smith's team was plagued by turnovers and poor foul-shooting in losing 71-63 to East Carolina Friday.

Seniors Kemoni Jenkins and Rhein Beamon added 13 points each in the loss, the second in as many outings for SC State, which dropped to 6-7 at the holiday break. Jaquanna Murray contributed seven points and eight boards for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Bulldogs outshot the Pirates from the field 43 percent (24-56) to 38 percent (25-66) and also had an edge on the glass, but committed a season-high 26 turnovers that led to 27 East Carolina points in the contest. SC State also missed over half of its free throw attempts, making just 9-21 from the charity stripe.

"Our biggest concern coming into the contest was their pressure defense as well as their fast-paced up tempo," said Smith after the loss. "We knew they would apply pressure and try to create turnovers and get easy baskets. But many of our turnovers were self-inflicted, so we have to do a better job of protecting the ball. They scored 13 points off our 15 first-half turnovers but we still had a two-point lead at the half.

"But, I'm proud of the way we fought. We stayed in the game and had a chance but just didn't finish strong. We will get better. I saw some good things but there are areas in which we need to improve. But I was pleased with the effort."

Raven Johnson had 19 points and Ariyana Williams came off the bench for 18 to lead the Pirates who improved to 9-2 on the season. Necole Hope was also in double figures for East Carolina with 10 points. Johnson and Salita Greene each had seven boards for the Pirates, who were outrebound 45-39 by SC State.

Despite 15 first-half turnovers, which the Pirates turned into 13 points, the Lady Bulldogs took a narrow 36-34 lead to the locker room.

East Carolina got the first four points of the contest, but SC State, behind five straight points by Jenkins and baskets by Murray and Akins, scored the next nine for a 9-4 Lady Bulldog lead with 7:04 left in the opening quarter.

A 3-pointer by the Pirates' Lashonda Monk closed the gap to 9-7 with 6:42 on the clock, but back-to-back baskets by Brown triggered a 15-8 SC State run that gave Smith's team its largest lead of the half, 24-15, following consecutive 3-pointers by Brown and Beamon with 1:41 left in the period. The Lady Bulldogs led 24-18 after one.

The Pirates started the second period with an 8-1 run to regain the lead at 26-25 on two free throws by Johnson with 6:47 left in the half. A 10-0 SC State run, which included four points each by Brown and Jenkins, put the Lady Bulldogs ahead 35-28 with 3:02 on the first-half clock before East Carolina rallied to pull to within 36-34 at the break.

The Pirates outscored SC State 21-13 in the third to take a 55-49 lead after three periods and enjoyed a narrow 16-14 edge in the final period, in which the Lady Bulldogs trailed by 10, 60-50, with 9:02 left  before rallying to within one, 63-62, on Beamon's drive with 1:44 left. The Pirates scored eight of the game's final nine points to pull away for the win.

SC State began its holiday break after the contest and will return to action Dec. 29 at Western Carolina.
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