East Carolina Closes Non-Conference Slate Against Norfolk State
December 19, 2014 | Women's Basketball
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's basketball team will play its final non-conference game of the season and its first home contest in 27 days when it hosts Norfolk State on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 5 p.m., in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
Tickets to Saturday's game will be available in a Holiday Hoops special, costing just $3 for all fans.
The meeting will be the fifth between the two programs, with the Pirates leading the all-time series, 3-1. ECU defeated the Spartans, 81-61, on their home court last season and 54-46 in Greenville during the 2012-13 campaign.
East Carolina (8-2) is on a two-game winning streak following a pair of road wins at Ohio on Dec. 6 and Loyola (Md.) on Dec. 9. Redshirt junior Jada Payne has scored 20 or more points in three-straight contests and ranks second among all American Athletic Conference players with 18.7 points per game. She also leads the league in free throw percentage, converting at a 95.5 percent clip. Junior guard Jasmine Phillips leads The American in steals per game at 2.7, while senior point guard Janesha Ebron ranks fifth with 2.1 and stands fourth in assists with four per contest.
NO. 1 SWAT TEAM
ECU currently sits in a three-way tie with Northwestern (8-0) and West Virginia (8-1) for the most blocks per game (7.1) among NCAA Division I teams. East Carolina blocked 15 shots in the 82-33 win at Loyola Maryland on Dec. 9, matching the program record set on Jan. 18, 1975 against Elon.
PICKING POCKETS
The Pirates enter the week beginning Monday, Dec. 15 ranked fifth in NCAA Division I hoops in steals per game with an average of 14.1. They totaled 21 steals in the season-opening win over Fairfield, and have recorded 12 or more in eight of 10 games this season.
POINTS come at PREMIUM ON PIRATE DEFENSE
East Carolina ranks 21st in the country in scoring defense, surrendering just 53.5 points per game. The Pirates also stands 23rd nationally in field goal percentage defense, allowing just 33.6 percent of shots to fall.
AMERICAN CONFERENCE PLAYER-OF-THE-WEEK
Redshirt junior guard/forward Jada Payne was named the American Athletic Conference's Player-of-the-Week on Dec. 15. Payne recorded her third straight 20-point game and matched her season high with 24 on 8-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, in ECU's 82-33 win at Loyola (Md.)
AN ELITE SHARPSHOOTER
Preseason All-American Athletic Conference selection Jada Payne is shooting 30-for-56 from three-point range this season, while her 53.6 percent conversion rate ranks seventh among all NCAA Division I players. Her 30 makes and 56 attempts both rank in the top five among all sharpshooters as well.
COUNTDOWN TO 200
Head coach Heather Macy, in her 10th season as a head coach and fifth at ECU, entered the season with 187-career wins and is now just four victories away from 200 for her career.
SHAW'S MEMORABLE BLOCK PARTY
Senior post player Ondrea Shaw recorded a career-high 10 blocks in the 82-33 victory at Loyola (Md.) on Dec. 9. She turned away five shots less than five minutes into the game, en route to blocking the most shots in a game by an NCAA Division I player this season, and the second most in a single game in program history.
PAYNE BRINGS THE RAIN
Jada Payne broke ECU's single-season record for three-pointers made with 70 in 2013-14. With three triples at Cleveland State on Dec. 4, she moved into eighth place on the program's all-time list, and after making four more in the win at Loyola Maryland on Dec. 9, Payne became the eighth player in program history to make 100 shots from beyond the arc in her career.
BLOCKBUSTER
Senior post player Ondrea Shaw recorded a career-high 10 blocked shots in the 82-33 blowout win at Loyola Maryland on Dec. 9. Shaw established herself among the nation's top shot-blockers at 3.26 per game, in 2013-14, which ranked ninth. Her 134 rejections are 15 behind Monique Pompili (1984-88) for second place and just 78 behind Marcia Girven's (1977-81) school record of 212.
TRICE a 2015 allstate wbca good works team candidate
Redshirt senior guard/forward Abria Trice is among 93 nominees for the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team announced by The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and Allstate Insurance Company on Dec. 3. The award recognizes a select group of college basketball student-athletes who have made significant contributions to the greater good of their communities through volunteerism and civic service. Trice is one of just two players from the American Athletic Conference, along with Tulane's Jamie Kaplan, to be named to the list.
