Women's Basketball Practice Report #2
October 20, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 20, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C.--The East Carolina women's basketball team finished its first full week of preseason practice this week, with only three weeks until the team travels to James Madison for the 2006-07 season opener.
"Everybody has been pretty excited this first week," head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. "We are playing hard and are very competitive in practice, but so have most programs around the country. We just need to maintain this level of intensity as the season goes on."
The Lady Pirates welcome back nine letterwinners and four starters off last year's squad whose 17-12 finish was the best in 14 years. Leading ECU again this season will be senior Cherie Mills and sophomore Jasmine Young, who both earned C-USA all-conference honors last year. Mills returns as the teams top scorer (16.1 ppg) and rebounder (7.6 rpg) while Young returns as the Lady Pirates point guard after a record setting freshman campaign.
"I have been impressed both offensively and defensively with our entire team," Baldwin-Tener added. "We are much farther along than we were at this point last year, but we still have a long way to go before our season opener."
The public will get its first look at the East Carolina women's basketball team on Saturday, October 21, when ECU hosts its annual Purple-Gold game (intrasquad scrimmage) inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum prior to the homecoming football game against SMU. There is no admission charge and fans are encouraged to arrive early to support the Lady Pirates.
"We are looking forward to seeing the team playing with officials in our first real game like situation," Baldwin-Tener said. "We have had some scrimmages in practice, but it will be our first real look at how the team will perform come Nov. 12."
There will be an autograph and photo session with players and coaches prior to the scrimmage. The autograph and photo session is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:45 p.m, with the scrimmage getting underway at 1 p.m.
