Women's Hoops Concludes Non-Conference Play Against The Aggies
January 04, 2005 | Women's Basketball
About the Pirates: East Carolina will look to get back in the win column Tuesday night against N.C. A&T. In their last outing, senior Jennifer Jackson went to the foul line shooting three free throws with four seconds left in the game looking to send the game into overtime. After missing the first attempt and making the second, Shanita Sutton grabbed the rebound on the final attempt and was unable to capitalize on the put back as the Pirates fell 48-50. ECU, who trailed at the half by 14 (30-16), held the Bulls to 18 percent shooting in the second half and held them scoreless from the field (0-for-15) for a span of 13 minutes while going on runs of 12-0 and 9-0 to take the lead (47-45) on a Viola Cooper three-pointer with 2:37 remaining.
Jackson, who leads the Pirates in scoring 15.3 points, recorded her second double-double of the season against Buffalo with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Against VCU, she recorded her fourth 30-plus point game of her career and moved into tenth place on ECU's all-time scoring list. Currently she has 1,216 career points. She has averaged 17.8 points and connected on 39 percent of her shots (33-of-86) 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 11.2 points per game and leads the team in rebounding 5.7 boards per contest. Against VCU, she recorded her eighth consecutive double-digit game with a career-high 20 points against VCU. Sutton 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.
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 against West Virginia. Currently she ranks seventh on ECU's all-time three-point field goals made list with 61. Cooper is averaging 7.4 points and 3.0 assists per game.
ECU's lone consistency can be found on the boards as they have equaled or out rebounded nine of their 12 opponents on the season (468-419) by an average margin of 4.1. As of Dec. 20, the Pirates ranked 95th in the nation with a 3.6 margin.
About N.C. A&T: The Aggies (1-8) have dropped their last six games entering the contest and have not played since Dec. 22, when they fell to Garnder-Webb, 65-69. Freshman guard LaKeisha Williams recorded 22 points while junior Yanumbe Sherman netted 20 in the loss. Sherman leads the team with 10.4 points a game and Malea Gibson is the team leader in rebounds with 6.4 per contest.
The Series: This will mark the 14th time the two schools have met. The Pirate hold a 9-4 overall edge dating back to 1987. In the last meeting, the Pirates came away with a 72-54 win in Williams Arena. Jennifer Jackson (12) and Samantha Pankey (10) scored in double-figures and Pankey also collected a career-best seven assists.
