ECU Women's Basketball Meets Unbeaten Ohio Saturday Night
December 05, 2014 | Women's Basketball
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ATHENS, Ohio - East Carolina will continue its road swing when it faces undefeated Ohio University in a non-conference tilt Saturday night at 7 p.m.
The Bobcats own a 6-0 overall mark this season, but the Pirates collected a dominating 76-47 victory in Greenville last season. The all-time series is tied, 2-2, as ECU makes its second trip to Athens in program history. The last visit came during the 2001-02 campaign where Ohio pulled out a 98-91 overtime victory.
Redshirt junior guard/forward Jada Payne leads East Carolina (6-2) in scoring at 17.6 points per game and is shooting an impressive 46.2 percent from the floor, 48.9 from the 3-point line and 91.7 from the free throw stripe this season. Junior forward I'Tiana Taylor ranks second on the team in scoring with 11.8 points per game, and leads the squad with 9.1 rebounds per outing. She has grabbed at least eight rebounds in seven of the team's first eight games this season.
Ohio is outscoring opponents by an average of 30.7 points per game, while knocking down more than 12 3-pointers due to impressive ball movement resulting in nearly 19 assists per contest. Kiyanna Black leads the Bobcats in scoring at 18 points per game, and is shooting better than 45 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Quiera Lampkins averages 7.8 rebounds per outing and ranks second in scoring with 13.8 points.
PICKING POCKETS
The Pirates entered the week beginning Monday, Dec. 1 ranked sixth in the nation in steals per game with an average of 15.1. They totaled 21 steals in the season-opening win over Fairfield,and have recorded 12 or more in seven of their eight games this season.
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 seven victories away from 200 for her career.
BLOCKBUSTER
Senior post player Ondrea Shaw tied her career-high with seven blocked shots in the 66-38 blowout of Rhode Island on Nov. 15. She also posted seven blocks at Bethune Cookman on Dec. 29, 2013. Shaw established herself among the nation's top shot-blockers at 3.26 per game, in 2013-14, which ranked ninth. Her 123 rejections are 26 behind Monique Pompili (1984-88) for second place and just 89 behind Marcia Girven's (1977-81) school record of 212.
BIG TEN BUSTER
East Carolina defeated Wisconsin, 61-43, in the third place game of the Lucaya Division at the Junkanoo Jam in The Bahamas on Nov. 28. The victory was its first over a Big Ten Conference member since beating Michigan State, 76-72, on Feb. 28, 1982.
TAYLOR TIME
East Carolina junior forward I'Tiana Taylor began the season as one of the team's best bench players, grabbing eight or more rebounds in four of the first five games. She earned her first-career start against No. 22 Syracuse at the Junkanoo Jam in The Bahamas and scored a career-high and game-high 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting with eight rebounds and three steals. The following day, against Wisconsin, Taylor scored 13 points and pulled down a career-high 17 boards in the 61-43 victory.
