GAMEDAY PREVIEW: East Carolina vs. No. 22 USF

Game 24: East Carolina vs. No. 22 USF
Date	Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017
Time	7:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Minges Coliseum)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina (10-13, 1-9) continues its three-game home stand Wednesday with a 7 o'clock game against No. 22 USF (18-4, 7-2 AAC). The Pirates look to snap a seven-game losing streak and improve to 7-5 all-time against the Bulls. Fans can watch live on ESPN3 with Evan Lepler and Chelsea Wilson on the call.

Kristen Gaffney leads the Purple and Gold with 14.9 points per game this season. Bre McDonald is averaging 12.5 points per game and a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game. As a unit, East Carolina is scoring 63.1 points per game and shooting 40.7 percent from field goal range. ECU has held its opponents to 29.3 percent from three-point range and an average of 5.6 treys per game through 23 games.

Wednesday marks the second meeting of the season between East Carolina and USF. The Bulls previously defeated ECU 79-48 on January 14 in Tampa, Fla. Last time the Purple and Gold defeated South Florida was February 15, 2015 in a 65-64 thriller at home. It was the last time ECU beat a nationally-ranked opponent as USF was ranked No. 25 at the time.

Scouting the Bulls
No. 22 South Florida looks to bounce back from a 62-57 road loss at Memphis on Sunday. The loss marked the second consecutive season that USF has lost to Memphis and just their second American Athletic Conference loss of the season. USF was unscathed in this week's Associate Press Poll remaining at No. 22 despite the road loss to the Tigers. South Florida is led by Kitja Laksa who averages 18.9 points per game. Both Maria Jespersen and Ariadna Pujol average in double figure scoring for the Bulls with 15.0 and 13.3 points, respectively while Jespersen leads the team with 9.2 rebounds per game. USF is outscoring opponents on average of 13.9 points per game and is averaging 7.1 three-pointers per game. South Florida currently sits in second in the the American Athletic Conference with a 7-2 slate.

The Series
East Carolina leads the all-time series 6-5 since the two first met in 1985. The Pirates are 3-2 at home against the Bulls with their last home victory on February 15, 2015 in a 65-64 thriller inside Minges Coliseum. Last meeting, USF defeated East Carolina 79-48 on January 14 in Tampa, Fla.

Last Time Out (Feb. 4)
East Carolina lost its seventh straight game, 73-62, to Houston Saturday in Minges Coliseum. Bre McDonald had a game-high 26 points, one off her career-best, and led the Pirates with nine rebounds.

A 17-3 run in the first quarter gave Houston the push it needed. The Cougars led by as many as 16 points in the win and out-rebounded ECU 44-29 on the glass. Serithia Hawkins led all players with 14 boards, six of which were offensive.
Despite holding UH scoreless from the field for nine minutes and 50 seconds in the second quarter, the Purple and Gold was unable to capitalize and trailed Houston 30-22 at halftime.

East Carolina shot 39.7 percent from the floor in the loss while Houston was 39.6 percent from field goal range and 46.2 percent from behind the arc. Additionally, Houston made 32 trips to the charity line, connecting on 25 free throws (.781) while ECU was 8-for-12 from the stripe.

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

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. The Pirates have now made a trey in 224 of the last 225 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. On Sunday, ECU volunteered with Upward Basketball where the players taught basketball skills drills to attendees.

Up Next
East Carolina plays the final game of its three-game home stand Saturday vs. Temple at 5 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Antoinette Bannister

Dominique Claytor

Alexis Cortez

Kristen Gaffney

Raven Johnson

Bre McDonald

Thais Oliveira

Footer