Lady Pirates Face Memphis In C-USA Tournament Action Today
March 01, 2005 | Women's Basketball
About the Tournament: The East Carolina women's basketball team will head west this week to Charlotte, N.C., site of the 2005 Pepsi Conference USA Tournament to begin its 2005 postseason run. The Pirates (10-17, 6-8) garnered a No. 8 seed, its highest ever since joining C-USA and will take on No. 9 Memphis in the opening game at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 3 at Halton Arena.
About East Carolina: Heading into this weeks action, ECU has dropped its last three games with the most recent coming at the hands of instate rival Charlotte, 68-66 inside Williams Arena this past Saturday. Jennifer Jackson led two players in double-figure scoring a game-high 24 points and was one rebound shy of collecting her 18th career double-double. Viola Cooper netted 12 points, her 25th double-digit career game. Junior LaToya Horton grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and seven assists, which was also a career-high. Charlotte was paced by Sakellie Daniels and her team-high 16 points and eight boards, followed by Monica League's 14 points and Tameka Smith's 13.
About Memphis: The Lady Tigers (12-15, 5-9) have lost seven of their last nine games including an overtime heartbreaker to Saint Louis last Friday, 59-58. Victoria Crawford came off the bench to lead Memphis in scoring with a team-high 18 points. Forward Jennifer Sullivan netted 12 points and recorded six assists while Raven Rogers grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Crawford, a senior from Birmingham, Ala., is averaging 14.7 points on the season to lead the Tigers and Sullivan ranks second with 11.4 points per contest.
The Series: In four meetings between the two programs, each team has won both games on their home floors. The Pirates evened the series this season (Jan. 7) and gave head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener her 100th career victory with a 60-47 win inside Williams Arena. Jackson and fellow senior Shanita Sutton combined to score 30 of ECU's 60 points. For the Tigers, Crawford and Latrice Booker each recorded double-digit games with 10 and 13 points repectively. ECU out rebounded Memphis 42-36 on the night and forced 21 turnovers.
2004-05 Senior Class:
Jennifer Jackson currently leads the Pirates in scoring (16.5 ppg) and rebounds (6.3). She has recorded 20 double-digit games this season, 10 of those in a row dating back to Jan 23, 2005 against Charlotte. Of those 20 games, three have been for more than 30 points and 10 have been for 20 or more. Jackson will leave the Pirate program ranked in the top-11 all-time in six Pirate statistical categories: 3-point field goals made (2nd), free throw accuracy (2nd), scoring (5th), field goal percentage (5th), scoring average (t-8th) and rebounding (11th). She is a two-time All C-USA selection and became the 19th Lady Pirate to record 1,000 career points. She also holds the single-season record for 3-pointers with 59.
Shanita Sutton is one of three seniors to have played in 100-plus games for her career. She has 66 career starts and ranks seventh all-time on ECU's shots blocked chart with 64. Currently she ranks second on the team in scoring (11.4) and rebounding (5.9). Earlier this season she recorded her first career double-double against Cal State Fullerton en route to being named to the all-tournament team at the Four Points LAX Turkey Shootout.
Samantha Pankey leads all current Pirates with a 80.1 career free throw percentage. The floor general of the 2004 team, she recorded a career-high 18 points against Southern Miss connecting on 6-of-7 shots from the floor. Currently she ranks second on the team in assists (82). Pankey is a two-time District III first-team Academic All-American and ranks first out of 5, 915 students in her graduating class.
Viola Cooper came to ECU as a junior college transfer in 2003 and has started all 55 games for Sharon Baldwin-Tener since stepping on campus. She ranks seventh all-time in 3-pointers made with 81 and currently holds the single-season record for free percentage (81.8). Cooper has recorded 25 double-digit games and against Southern Miss recorded a season-high 21 points hitting 6-of-10 shots from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
Soraya Hellaby has come off the bench and proven to be a valuable post player for Baldwin-Tener. In her two seasons she has played in 41 games with four starts and recorded a career-highs in points (12 vs. Montana) and rebounds (6 vs. TCU).
