Lady Pirates Host League-Leading UAB
January 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2010
East Carolina Women's Basketball Gameday Central
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's basketball team plays the first of two-straight home contests Thursday, hosting league-leading UAB at Minges Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Lady Pirates (15-4, 4-2) will be without the services of sophomore guard Crystal Wilson for the remainder of the 2009-10 season due to a knee injury suffered in the first half of a 73-59 loss at SMU Jan. 23
Allison Spivey led the offense with 15 points against the Mustangs while Kim Gay added 12. Ashley Clarke was the top rebounder for the second-straight game, as she pulled down seven boards.
SMU had the edge from the field .458-.438 while also enjoying a 35-30 margin on the glass, including 14 offensive rebounds. The Mustangs also had the advantage in assists 18-10 while ECU turned the ball over 23 times, leading to 31 SMU points.
Five Lady Pirates are averaging 7.3 or more points per game, led by Clarke's 13.1 mark. Spivey is also putting in double figures with 11.4 points per contest. Gay serves as the leading rebounder for East Carolina, pulling down an average of 5.3 boards through 19 contests. Clarke also leads the squad in minutes played (594), field goals made (89), free throws made (69), assists (100) and steals (47), while ranking second in rebounds (4.4 per game).
The Lady Pirates are shooting the ball at a C-USA-leading clip of .477 while outscoring its opponents by a +11.0 margin (74.8-63.8). ECU also owns a positive rebounding margin at +4.7 (38.9-34.2).
The Blazers (10-7, 4-1) are averaging 61.4 points per game while holding their foes to 63.5 per contest. UAB is shooting .379 from the field and has a -2.0 margin on the boards (37.2-39.2)
Freshman Jala Harris, who has won C-USA's Freshman-of-the-Week award three-consecutive times, paces the Blazer offense at 15.5 points per game while two other players are averaging double figures as well. Tamika Dukes serves as the top rebounder on the squad, corralling 7.1 boards per contest.
THE SERIES: UAB
ECU and UAB will meet for the 17th time in a series that dates back to 1979. The Lady Pirates own a 10-6 record against the Blazers and have won the last four contests, including a 73-59 result in the first round of the 2009 Conference USA Tournament. East Carolina has also won two-straight at Minges Coliseum.
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE
East Carolina sports a 277-160 (.634) record inside Minges Coliseum since the arena opened in 1975. Last season, the squad went 12-2 (.857) at home, matching the second-most single-season home wins in program history. The Lady Pirates are 301-163 (.649) when playing in Greenville, spending their first six seasons at an on-campus alternate site while Minges was erected. ECU has been equally effective on its home court under Baldwin-Tener, having accumulated a 70-34 (.673) mark, including a 35-21 (.625) ledger against C-USA competition.
THE AFTERMATH: SMU
SMU now owns a 4-3 lead in the series between the schools as the Mustangs won their fourth-straight contest over East Carolina ... The Lady Pirates have lost consecutive games for just the first time this year ... Allison Spivey (15 points) and Kim Gay (12 points) turned in their 11th and seventh double-digit scoring efforts of the season, respectively while Spivey now has 30 in her career. Spivey needs just 43 points to reach 700 ... Ashley Clarke led the Lady Pirates in rebounding for the second-straight contest, pullling down seven to match her effort at Rice ... Jean Best is now tied for ninth in career blocks with 63, 16 of which have come this season.
HAVE BEEN TO THE WEST BUT GLAD TO BE BACK EAST
When comparing the Lady Pirate record against the East and West schools in Conference USA, there lies a striking contrast. Since joining the league, East Carolina is 38-25 (.603) versus its East bretheren and just 15-26 (.366) against the West. So far in 2009-10, the Lady Pirates have picked up wins over Marshall, Southern Miss and UCF from the East and Houston from the West while dropping decisions to West foes Rice and SMU.
ROAD TRIPS NOT KIND
Over the past three seasons, conference play on the road has been a thorn in East Carolina's side. Since the start of league action in 2007-08, the Lady Pirates have picked up just four wins away from Minges Coliseum in 19 tries.
KEEP THEM OFF THE GLASS
In six conference games this season, the Lady Pirates have given up 101 offensive rebounds, an average of 16.8 per contest. That mark has led to 101 second chance points for opponents.
VALUE EVERY POSSESSION
ECU has reached the 20-turnover mark 14 times this season, including 29 against UCF. That has led to a turnover margin of -1.3. Additionally, teams have scored 359 points off of those giveaways.
MAKING IT RUN
Ashley Clarke has steadily improved during her sophomore campaign, having a greater ability to make the offense go this season. Of the Lady Pirates' 512 field goals, Clarke has made or assisted on 189 of them, a percentage of .369. Allison Spivey has the second-best mark on the squad at .260 (133-of-512).
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS
The Lady Pirates are among the top 50 in many categories in the latest national rankings. ECU is fifth in field goal percentage (.477), 19th in assists per game (16.3), 24th in three-point field goal percentage (.373), 25th in scoring offense (74.8), 30th in winning percentage (.789), 34th in three-point field goal percentage defense (.280) and 39th in scoring margin (+11.0). Additionally, Spivey is 15th in three-point field goal percentage (.458) while Clarke checks in at 34th in assists per game (5.3) and 72nd in steals per game (2.5).
50 PERCENT? NO PROBLEM
The Lady Pirates are enjoying another great shooting season, firing at a .477 clip through 19 contests. ECU has shot 50 percent or above in nine games, including two games reaching the 60-percent plateau.
SUPER BALANCED
While ECU may not have a C-USA Player-of-the-Year candidate or even a league player-of-the-week award winner this season, it can at least boast a balanced squad ... The Lady Pirates had six players averaging 7.6 or more points per game before Crystal Wilson went down with a season-ending knee injury. Every member of the 2009-10 roster played, scored and had a rebound in the 103-59 win over Houston-Baptist. There are also five players averaging more than 20 minutes per game. In C-USA games, three players are putting in double figures in scoring.
UP NEXT FOR THE LADY PIRATES
After taking on UAB, the Lady Pirates welcome another league-leading team to Minges in Memphis. East Carolina split a pair of contests with the Tigers last season, winning decisively in Greenville by an 83-66 count before dropping a 74-68 decision in the return trip to Memphis. The Lady Pirates and Tigers play a home and home series each season due to both squads residing in the East in C-USA. The game at Memphis this year should prove interesting, as the contest is scheduled to be held at FedExForum, the home of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, while it will also be shown live on CBS College Sports. ECU holds an all-time record of 7-6 against the Tigers but have lost three of the last four matchups.
