GAMEDAY PREVIEW: East Carolina at Cincinnati

Game 20: East Carolina at Cincinnati
Date	Saturday, Jan. 21
Time	2:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Cincinnati, Ohio (Fifth-Third Arena)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina (10-9, 1-5 AAC) travels to Cincinnati (13-5, 4-1 AAC) for an American Athletic Conference matchup Saturday at 2 p.m. inside Fifth-Third Arena. Complete coverage will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.

The Pirates look to snap a three-game losing streak Saturday afternoon in The Blue Chip City. ECU is off to a 1-5 slate in league play after facing the top five teams in the AAC Preseason Poll and UCF. In the Purple and Gold's six conference games, Kristen Gaffney is averaging a team-best 11 points per game while shooting 45.3 percent from the field.

Alex Frazier and Dominique Claytor have cracked the Pirates' starting lineup the last two games while freshman Raven Johnson is warming up as ECU enters the heart of the conference season.

The Pirates rank fourth in the league in field goal percentage (.411) and three-point field goal defense (.286) while Gaffney ranks third in field goal percentage (.538) this season.

Scouting the Bearcats
Cincinnati enters Saturday's game with a 13-5 overall record this season. The Bearcats are 4-1 in the American Athletic Conference and are on a four-game win streak since losing to SMU 64-47 in the league opener December 31. Cincinnati has earned wins over UCF, Houston, Memphis and edged SMU 67-65 in its last game. The Bearcats are 9-3 at home this season and have won all three of their home AAC contests. Cincinnati has three players averaging double figures this season. Shanice Johnson leads the squad with 15.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. The Bearcats are scoring 65.5 points per game and shooting 38.3 percent from the field while holding opponents to 58.5 points and 38.3 rebounds per game. Cincinnati ranks third in the conference in scoring defense (58.4), free throw percentage (.728), blocked shots (4.1) and turnover margin (+3.0).

The Series
East Carolina leads the all-time series 7-4 and is 5-0 against the Bearcats under head coach Heather Macy. The Pirates have won the last six meetings between the two and are 2-3 on the road in Cincinnati. Last time the two met, East Carolina defeated Cincinnati 70-61 in the American Athletic Conference Tournament on March 4, 2016.

Last Time Out (Jan. 18)
Bre McDonald and Khadidja Toure had 13 points and 12 points respectively in East Carolina's loss to UCF Wednesday night. McDonald was one rebound shy of tallying her sixth double-double of the season. Of Toure's 12 points, nine were from three-point range as the senior connected on 3-of-7 shots from downtown.

East Carolina shot 31.4 percent from the field in the loss and just 38.9 percent from the free throw line (7-for-18). The Pirates committed 21 turnovers while UCF made four less (17). The Knights also outrebounded the Pirates 49-37 in Wednesday night's matchup en route to their first win inside Minges Coliseum since the two first met in 2006.

Macy Ascending On ECU All-Time Coaching Wins List
Heather Macy now owns the second-most wins by a head coach in program history. With 11 more victories, she will surpass Sharon Baldwin-Tener (2002-10), who tops the list with 127.

Holston Nominated for NABC Good Works Team
Holston was named a nominee for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Good Works Team. The Allstate NABC and WBCA Good Works Teams® recognizes players at all levels of college basketball whose charitable involvement and altruistic acts stand out amongst all other student-athletes participating in the sport.

Bannister Comes Up Clutch
East Carolina played in some tight games early on this season, building a 4-0 record when the margin of victory is five points or less. Redshirt senior guard Antoinette Bannister was a big reason for this success as she drained some big shots for the Purple and Gold. She canned a triple with eight seconds left against Detroit to send the game into overtime before hitting three free throws with 10 seconds on the clock versus Marist to give ECU the win by two points. Bannister also nailed a huge three with two seconds remaining against Ball State to force overtime as East Carolina out-scored the Cardinals 19-6 in the extra period. Most recently, Bannister banked a trey with 15 seconds left in regulation against SMU marking the fourth time this season she has netted the game-winning point for ECU.

Educate Me
This year's Education Day brought a crowd of 4,958 to Minges Coliseum. That number stands as the second highest in facility history for a women's basketball game.

1. Nov. 20, 2015 - 5,408 vs. Presbyterian
2. Nov. 15, 2016 - 4,958 vs. UNC Wilmington
3. Dec. 31, 2014 - 4,706 vs. Connecticut

Balancing Act
ECU has been a balanced team this season, utilizing all 11 players on its roster in 10 of the last 13 games. Furthermore, nine Pirates are averaging double-digit minutes played. In the contest at Charlotte, all 11 ECU players scored at least one point.

Three Me
The loss at Temple snapped a 218-game streak of that East Carolina made at least one three-point basket. Prior to Temple, the last time the Pirates did not make at least one was Feb. 6, 2010 at UCF. ECU got back on track against USF Saturday hitting a trey to make at least one shot from downtown in 219 of its last 220 games.

Pirates Picked Sixth In AAC Preseason Poll
ECU was picked to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference for the 2016-17 season according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Connecticut was chosen as the unanimous preseason favorite with 100 points, ahead of Temple in second place (87) and USF in third (86). Tulane accumulated 73 points for fourth place, while SMU rounded out the top five with 50. East Carolina received 49 points in the poll and was ranked ahead of Memphis (47), UCF (41), Tulsa (33), Cincinnati (23) and Houston (16).

Top-50 Signing Class Arrives
Freshmen Dominique Claytor, Alexis Cortez, Raven Johnson and junior Thais Oliveira, signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Pirates in November 2015, comprising the No. 49 overall class nationally, according to the Dan Olsen Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. The quartet marked ECU's first top-50 signing class in program history.

Pirates in the Community
ECU Women's Basketball players have logged more than 650 hours of community service so far this year and have accumulated over 500 hours each of the last several seasons. They have put in time at the Cypress Glen Retirement Community, The Boys and Girls Club of Pitt County and Elmhurst Elementary School among many others. ECU spent time helping to pack 7,000 meals at Peace Presbyterian Church on Monday in conjunction with the nation-wide MLK Day of Service.

Up Next
East Carolina returns home Tuesday to face four-time defending national champion No. 1/1 UConn at 7:00 p.m. in Minges Coliseum on SNY.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Antoinette Bannister

Dominique Claytor

Alexis Cortez

Alex Frazier

Kristen Gaffney

Raven Johnson

Bre McDonald

Thais Oliveira

Khadidja Toure

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