Gameday: East Carolina Tussles With Auburn Sunday Afternoon In Minges

Game 4: East Carolina vs. Auburn
Date	Sunday, November 20
Time	3:30 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina women's basketball team puts its undefeated record on the line Sunday afternoon against Auburn. Tip-off for the Pirates' fourth-straight home game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

SCOUTING AUBURN
Auburn sports a 2-0 record following a 68-36 victory Thursday at North Carolina A&T. Brandy Montgomery led the Tigers for the second-straight game with 18 points. Katie Frerking added 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and a career-high seven steals. Auburn forced 27 Aggie turnovers that resulted in 26 points for the Tigers. Auburn shot an even 50 percent from the floor (27-of-54) and was 5-of-15 (33.3%) from three-point range. Montgomery is averaging 20.0 points per game while Frerking checks in at 7.5 rebounds per contest.

EDUCATE ME
This year's Education Day brought a crowd of 4,958 to Minges Coliseum. That number stands as the second highest in facility history for a women's basketball game.

1. Nov. 20, 2015 - 5,408 vs. Presbyterian
2. Nov. 15, 2016 - 4,958 vs. UNC Wilmington
3. Dec. 31, 2014 - 4,706 vs. Connecticut
4. Jan. 30, 1981 - 4,500 vs. USC
5. Feb. 5, 1981 - 4,240 vs. North Carolina

GAFFNEY NAMED AAC PLAYER-OF-THE-WEEK
Graduate student Kristen Gaffney was named the first American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player-of-the-Week for the 2016-17 season on Monday, Nov. 14, becoming the first Pirate to receive the conference's top weekly honor since Jada Payne on Dec. 15, 2014. She averaged 27.5 points, seven rebounds and 4.5 steals while shooting 24-for-35 (.686) from the field in a 2-0 week for the Pirates.

NON-CONFERENCE HOME WINNING STREAK
East Carolina has won 22-straight regular-season home games in non-conference play, a stretch that began following a 72-62 victory over College of Charleston on Nov. 17, 2012.

MACY ASCENDING ON ECU ALL-TIME COACHING WINS LIST
Heather Macy is now tied with Catherine Bolton (1969-78) for the second-most wins by a head coach in program history. With 17 more victories, she will surpass Sharon Baldwin-Tener (2002-10), who tops the list with 126.

GAFFNEY WILL REMEMBER THE TITANS
Kristen Gaffney had a career day in just her second game as a Pirate by scoring 32 points on 15-for-23 shooting to go along with eight rebounds in an 83-81 (OT) win over the Detroit-Mercy Titans on Nov. 13. Her scoring (32), field goals made (15) and shot attempts (23) all marked personal bests.

BANNISTER FINDS THE CANNISTER
Redshirt senior Antoinette Bannister has made 13 three-pointers in her first three games at ECU. She started off a perfect 6-for-6 against Greensboro College on Nov. 11 before making five more against Detroit-Mercy on Nov. 13, including a game-tying conversion with eight seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Bannister added two triples in Wednesday victory over UNCW.

STICKY FINGERS
Redshirt senior Bre McDonald recorded nine steals against Greensboro College on Nov. 11 which tied three former Pirates for the third most in a single-game in program history. As a team, the Pirates notched 31 steals which stand as the fourth most in a game in school history.

STREAK OF THREES
ECU has made at least one three-point basket in 204-consecutive games. The last time the Pirates did not make at least one was Feb. 6, 2010 at UCF. In the last two seasons, East Carolina has held three different opponents without a conversion from beyond the arc:

Dec. 19, 2014 - Loyola-Maryland (0-12)
Nov. 17, 2015 - Alcorn State (0-8)
Feb. 29, 2016 - SMU (0-7)

PIRATES PICKED SIXTH IN AMERICAN PRESEASON POLL
ECU was picked to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference for the 2016-17 season according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Connecticut was chosen as the unanimous preseason favorite with 100 points, ahead of Temple in second place (87) and USF in third (86). Tulane accumulated 73 points for fourth place, while SMU rounded out the top five with 50. East Carolina received 49 points in the poll and was ranked ahead of Memphis (47), UCF (41), Tulsa (33), Cincinnati (23) and Houston (16).

TOP-50 SIGNING CLASS ARRIVES
Freshmen Dominique Claytor, Alexis Cortez, Raven Johnson and junior Thais Oliveira, signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Pirates in November 2015, comprising the No. 49 overall class nationally, according to the Dan Olsen Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. The quarter marked ECU's first top-50 signing class in program history.

PIRATES IN THE COMMUNITY
ECU Women's Basketball players have logged more than 400 hours of community service so far this year and have accumulated over 500 hours each of the last several seasons. They have put in time at the Cypress Glen Retirement Community, The Boys and Girls Club of Pitt County and Elmhurst Elementary School among many others.

UP NEXT
East Carolina takes to the road for the first time this season next week, traveling south to Georgia for the Savannah Invitational where the Pirates will take on Marist, current No. 21/25 West Virginia and Ball State.

Gameday: East Carolina Tussles With Auburn Sunday Afternoon In Minges

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Players Mentioned

Antoinette Bannister

Dominique Claytor

Alexis Cortez

Kristen Gaffney

Raven Johnson

Bre McDonald

Thais Oliveira

Jada Payne

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