Women's Hoops Travels To Virginia Commonwealth
December 28, 2004 | Women's Basketball
About the Pirates: East Carolina is hoping that a nine day layoff will help snap a four-game losing streak when they travel to Richmond, Va. to face former Colonial Athletic Association foe Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. In their last outing, the Pirates (2-8) fell to West Virginia at home, 76-54. ECU jumped out to a 23-7 lead with just under nine minutes to play in the first half behind the stellar play of seniors Shanita Sutton, Soraya Hellaby and Jennifer Jackson. The three upperclassmen combined for 21 of ECU's 32 first half points. But an 18-9 run by the Mountaineers heading into intermission and a 28-4 run to open up the second half, halted the Pirates upset bid as they would trail by 19 (55-36) with 11 minutes remaining and eventually fell 76-54.
Senior guard Viola Cooper collected her fourth double-digit scoring game of the season as she led the Pirates in scoring netting 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the floor. She drained three shots from behind the arc and moved into sole possession of seventh place on ECU's all-time three-point field goals made chart with 60 in her career. Cooper is averaging 8.2 points and 3.0 assists per game. She ranks 11th in Conference USA in three-point field goals made (1.40) and 13th in assists (3.00) and assist to turnover ration (0.79).
Jackson, who leads the Pirates in scoring 14.3 points, recorded seven points and five boards against West Virginia and moved to within four points of tenth place on ECU's all-time scoring list. Currently she has 1,175 career points. She has averaged 18.2 points and connected on 45.9 percent of her shots (34-of-74) in the last five games. Against Stephen F. Austin in the first round of the Lady Pirate Invitational, Jackson netted a career-best 34 points, hitting 13-of-21 shots from the floor.
Sutton, a 6-0 forward, is the only other Pirate to average double-figures with her 10.6 points per game. She posted her first career double-double against Cal State Fullerton (14 points and 11 rebounds) en route to being named to the Four Points LAX Turkey Shootout all-tournament team and has recorded double-digit games in the Pirates last seven outings. Sutton leads ECU in rebounding with 5.1 boards per contest.
ECU's lone consistency can be found on the boards as they have equaled or out rebounded eight of their nine opponents on the season (373-338) by an average margin of 3.5. As of Dec. 20, the Pirates ranked 95th in the nation with a 3.6 margin.
About VCU: The Rams (3-4) have dropped three of their last four games, with the lone win coming against Loyola-Maryland (67-46). In their last outing, the Rams fell to Indiana, 63-41, in Bloomington. Senior guard Meagan Evans led the team with nine points and five boards off the bench. Michele Cosel collected eight points and Lauren Hogan, who leads the team with 11.6 points per game, netted seven.
The Series: This will mark the 17th time the former CAA schools have met. The Pirates hold a 9-7 overall edge dating back to 1991 and are winners of their last four in the series. The last time the two schools played was March 4, 2001 with ECU coming away with a 89-82 win.
