The East Carolina women’s basketball team had a chance to serve as the barrier between UTEP and sole possession of first place in Conference USA on Wednesday.

The struggling Pirates offered their fair share of resistance, but the Miners were able to use their size advantage to eventually come away with a 66-56 win in Minges Coliseum that broke a first-place tie with UAB and improved UTEP to 5-0 in C-USA.

The game was tied at halftime but UTEP’s 11-2 run to begin the second half swung momentum the Miners’ way and they led for almost all of the final 20 minutes despite ECU’s unwillingness to go down quietly.

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