Cougars lose by 9 to ECU Pirates

Posted: February 7, 2013 -- 11:32 p.m. CT.

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars entered Thursday's night's game against the East Carolina Pirates on a three-game losing and with shaky confidence. Well, the confidence is even shakier now as the Coogs lost to the Pirates 68-59 in front of a crowd of 673 fans.

Neither team shot the ball well at all.

The Pirates (16-5 overall, 6-2 in Conference USA) shot 34.8% (24 for 69 field goals) while the Coogs (9-12, 3-5) shot 31.7% (20 for 63 field goals).

However, the Pirates made 10 of 29 three-point shot attempts while the Coogs made only 1 of their three-point tries.

The Coogs compounded their ice-cold shooting from the floor with poor foul shooting. After making 9 of 12 free throws in the first half, the Coogs shot 9 for 18 in the second half.

After trailing 35-25 at halftime, the Coogs crawled back into the game. Junior post Yasmeen Thompson converted a three-point play to bring the Coogs within 46-45 with 12:05 left in the ball game. However, a turnover by senior guard Porsche Landry led to a three-point bucket by ECU's Whitny Edwards.


Houston freshman Alecia Smith made a jump shot; but, ECU's Celeste Stewart knocked down back-to-back threes for a 55-47 Pirates' lead at the 10:27 mark.

Then, the Coogs missed six straight free throws and the Pirates increased their lead to 14 (61-47) with 6:19 remaining in the game.

Houston frosh Marche' Amerson scored seven of the Coogs' next eight points to narrow the Coogs' deficit to eight points (63-55) with 3:47 left in the ball game; but, the Coogs did not get any closer during the final minutes of the game.

The Coogs will try to stop their four-game losing streak Sunday, February 10, at high noon versus cross-town rival Rice. The game will be shown on FSN.