Lady Pirates Look To Rebound At Hampton
December 11, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2009
ECU Women's Basketball Gameday Central
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's basketball team will try to get back in the win column Saturday, traveling to Hampton for a 6 p.m. tipoff at the HU Convocation Center. Head Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener attempts to become the winningest coach in program history, as she is currently tied for first with Catherine Bolton with 110 wins.
Poor shooting plagued ECU in a 57-45 loss at Gardner-Webb last Saturday as the Lady Pirates shot just 29 percent. Redshirt junior Kelly Smith netted a team-best 11 points while sophomore Ashley Clarke chipped in with 10. A bright spot for East Carolina was the play of sophomore Chareya Smith, as she picked up a career-high 10 rebounds.
The Lady Pirates are playing just their third road contest of the season, after going 6-0 at home and picking up a 70-65 victory at American Nov. 22 before losing at GWU.
Clarke leads East Carolina in scoring, averaging 14 points while also dishing out 5.8 assists per game, a mark that is good for 23rd nationally. After pacing the team in rebounding last season, junior Kim Gay is continuing to excel, as she owns a 6.1 average thus far this year.
Hampton enters the contest with a 2-5 record, most recently falling to Temple Tuesday. Sophomore Whitney Hill leads the Lady Pirates in scoring at 17 points per contest, but has missed the last four contests. Additionally Breanna Jones paces Hampton on the glass, picking up 6.3 rebounds per game.
THE SERIES: HAMPTON
East Carolina and Hampton meet for the fifth time in a series that began in 1985. ECU owns a 4-0 lead and took a 74-58 win last season over the Lady Pirates at Minges Coliseum. East Carolina has played at Hampton just once in program history, winning a 59-58 decision on Nov. 8, 1997.
EAST CAROLINA AGAINST THE MEAC
East Carolina holds an all-time mark of 33-10 (.767) against the current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Lady Pirates have squared off against Bethune Cookman (2-0), Coppin State (3-1), Delaware State (4-0), Florida A&M (1-0), Hampton (4-0), Howard (5-1), Maryland Eastern Shore (1-0), North Carolina A&T (10-5) and South Carolina State (3-3). ECU defeated Bethune-Cookman 95-57 earlier this season in the Eighth-Annual Lady Pirate Invitational.
LADY PIRATES AGAINST THE COMMONWEALTH STATE
The Lady Pirates own an all-time mark of 137-146 (.484) against schools in the state of Virginia. ECU has tangled with George Mason (24-21), Hampton (4-0), James Madison (26-29), Longwood (7-2), Norfolk State (1-1), Old Dominion (8-42), Radford (2-1), Richmond (17-24), Virginia (2-1), Virginia Commonwealth (12-10), Virginia State (1-0), Virginia Tech (2-4) and William and Mary (31-11). East Carolina bested VCU 88-85 Dec. 2 at Minges Coliseum.
LEARNING TO RECOVER
East Carolina looks to improve its record under head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener when playing after a loss in the previous contest. Since the eighth-year head coach took over in 2002, the Lady Pirates are 46-59 (.438) in contests that directly follow a loss, including those that carry over to the beginning of a new season.
SUSTAINING SUCCESS
ECU is trying to improve its record to 8-1 for just the fourth time in program history when it takes on Hampton. It has not happened since the 1979-80 campaign but did occur in consecutive seasons from 1970-72.
OTHERS TAKING NOTE
Lady Pirate fans are not the only people taking note of the team's play so far this season. In the fourth ESPN/USA Today Top 25 poll, East Carolina received 10 votes. The squad has now received votes for three consecutive weeks. It also marks the second-straight campaign in which the Lady Pirates have appeared on the list. ECU garnered as many as six votes during the 2008-09 season.
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS
The Lady Pirates have played solid basketball thus far this season, and it has shown in the national statistics rankings. ECU is eighth in three-point field goal defense (.216), ninth in field goal percentage (.477), 13th in assists per game (17.9), 37th in rebound margin (+7.4), 42nd in steals per game (10.9) and 45th in scoring margin (+13.9). Additionally, Clarke ranks 23rd nationally in assists per game (5.9) while Allison Spivey checks in at 23rd in three-point field goal percentage (50.0).
