Lady Pirates Take On No. 4 Seed Memphis
March 09, 2010 | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2010
ECU Women's Basketball Gameday Central
Updated Season Stats In PDF Format
TULSA, Okla. - The fifth-seeded East Carolina women's basketball team returns to the Reynolds Center Tuesday, facing off against No. 4 seed Memphis for the right to move on to the semifinals of the 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. EST.
The Lady Pirates set a record for the most points in a C-USA Tournament contest with a 102-64 triumph over 12 seed Southern Miss Monday.
ECU's 102 points are two more than the previous mark set by DePaul in a 100-75 win over Houston on Feb. 28, 1997. In addition, ECU's 24 assists tie a record set by Louisville vs. Cincinnati on March 1, 1997 and later matched by both Houston against Memphis on March 3, 2001 and Marshall vs. UTEP on March 6, 2009.
East Carolina's 11 3-pointers rank tied for fourth in C-USA Tournament history and its 64.7 shooting percentage from beyond the arc is third. The Lady Pirates hit 58.9 percent of their shots from the field (33-of-56), a mark that marks ranks second to Tulane's 62.2 performance (28-of-45) against Louisville on Feb. 28, 1999.
ECU hit the 100-point plateau for the 19th time in program history and second this season (103 against Houston-Baptist). The Lady Pirates recorded their most points and largest margin of victory in a C-USA Tournament tilt, as well as the largest-ever margin of victory over a league opponent. Every player on the active roster scored and had a rebound for the second time this year (Houston-Baptist). Additionally, East Carolina assured itself of a spot in the quarterfinal round for the third time in the last four seasons.
Freshman Shala Hodges put in a career high 17 points while Kim Gay and Chareya Smith added 13 and Allison Spivey and Celeste Stewart put in 10 points each.
The Lady Pirates surpassed the 50-percent plateau from the field for the 12th time this year.
ECU leads the all-time series with Memphis 9-6 and has won three of the last four meetings. The Lady Pirates defeated the Tigers 76-59 Jan. 30 at Minges Coliseum and won a 77-76 overtime thriller when Gay hit an NBA range three with just three seconds left in the extra session at the FedExForum.
If East Carolina can get past Memphis, it will face the winner of the tilt between No. 1 seed Tulane and No. 8 UCF in the semifinals Wednesday at 6 p.m. EST. The contest is slated to be shown live on CBS College Sports.
