Gameday: ECU Takes On Richmond Saturday Afternoon In Virginia

Saturday, December 17

Richmond, VA

4 PM

East Carolina University

Richmond

Gameday: ECU Takes On Richmond Saturday Afternoon In Virginia

December 16, 2016 | Women's Basketball

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Game 9: East Carolina at Charlotte
Date	Saturday, Dec. 17
Time	4:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Richmond, Va. (Robins Center)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #2FTN \\\ ECUndaunted

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Following a two-week break from competition, East Carolina resumes its non-conference schedule Saturday afternoon at Richmond. The Pirates and Spiders are set for a 4 p.m. tipoff at the Robins Center.

ECU, holding a 7-3 overall record, has won four of its last six games dating back to a 70-68 victory over Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference powerhouse Marist in the first contest of the Savannah Invitational. The Pirates look for their first true road victory of the campaign, however, after falling 79-64 at Charlotte back on Dec. 1. East Carolina has three non-conference games remaining before Tulane arrives at Minges Coliseum Dec. 31 for the start of American Athletic Conference play.

The Pirates are averaging exactly 70 points per game through 10 outings this season and are holding opponents to 64.6 per contest. ECU is shooting the ball at 44 percent from the field, 37.3 percent from three-point land and 64.6 percent at the free throw line. East Carolina is also +3.2 in the rebounding column, pulling down 39.8 boards per game to its opponents' 36.6.

Graduate student and forward Kristen Gaffney paces the individual offensive efforts for the Pirates, pouring in 15.7 points per game, while redshirt senior forward Bre McDonald is putting up 13.2 points per contest. McDonald also leads the team in rebounding average at 6.9 a game.

ECU has been a balanced team this season, utilizing all 11 players on its roster in each of the last six games. Furthermore, every member of the team is averaging double-digit minutes played. In the contest at Charlotte, all 11 Pirates scored at least one point.

For Starters
Head Coach Heather Macy is in her seventh season leading the Pirates, who have averaged just shy of 20 wins per year since the start of the 2012-13 campaign. ECU returns four players from its 2015-16 roster and welcomes eight newcomers, including four freshmen.

Scouting the Spiders
Richmond enters the game with a 4-6 record after falling at Hampton by a 72-45 margin Thursday evening in Norfolk, Va. The Spiders have dropped their last three games to Cleveland State, Penn and Hampton after a four-game winning streak put them over the .500 mark. Senior guard Janelle Hubbard leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game, while junior guard Micaela Hubbard is putting up 10.7 points per game. In terms of rebounding, redshirt senior guard Lauren Tolson paces the squad with an average of 5.7 boards per contest. Collectively, Richmond averages 56.6 points per game while opponents are scoring 60.1 points per outing. The Spiders are also getting out-rebounded 40.9-36.2 on average. Richmond is shooting the ball at a .339 clip from the field, .251 beyond the three-point line and .713 at the charity stripe. In their last two games, the Spiders have averaged 46 points and made 29 of 109 shots from the field (.266) while getting out-rebounded 84-75.

The Series
Richmond leads the series with East Carolina, 24-17. The former Colonial Athletic Association rivals have not met since Dec. 29, 2001 when the Spiders defeated the Pirates at the St. Peter's Holiday Classic.

Last Time Out (Dec. 4)
East Carolina never trailed in posting a 66-58 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore in a non-conference women's basketball contest at Minges Coliseum. McDonald scored a team-high 10 points for East Carolina while adding seven rebounds. She also posted two assists and four steals. Gaffney and Khadidja Toure notched eight points apiece as 10 of 11 Pirates scored in the contest. Ciani Byrom poured in 23 points for the Hawks, converting nine of her 13 free throw attempts. ECU shot 36.4 percent on the strength of 24 made field goals and limited MDES to just 19 made shots in 51 tries (37.3 percent). The Pirates dominated the glass, pulling down 45 rebounds as compared to the Hawks' 34 while also collecting 21 offensive rebounds that turned into 10 second chance points. East Carolina also had significant advantages in points in the paint (32-24) and bench points

Macy Ascending On ECU All-Time Coaching Wins List
Macy now owns the second-most wins by a head coach in program history. With 13 more victories, she will surpass Sharon Baldwin-Tener (2002-10), who tops the list with 126.

Holston Nominated For NABC Good Works Team
Redshirt junior forward Gabrielle Holston was named a nominee for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Good Works Team. The Allstate NABC and WBCA Good Works Teams® recognizes players at all levels of college basketball whose charitable involvement and altruistic acts stand out amongst all other student-athletes participating in the sport.

Never Too Early To Keep Track
Through games of Dec. 15, East Carolina currently ranks 83rd in the NCAA ratings percentage index - a factor in determining at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. The Pirates' three losses have occurred against teams in the top 50 of the RPI - Auburn (24), West Virginia (42) and Charlotte (44).

Bannister Comes Up Clutch
East Carolina has played in some tight games early on this season, building a 3-0 record when the margin of victory is five points or less. Redshirt senior guard Antoinette Bannister is a big reason for this success as she has drained some big shots for the Purple and Gold. She drained a triple with eight seconds left against Detroit to send the game into overtime before hitting three free throws with 10 seconds on the clock versus Marist to give ECU the win by two points. Bannister also canned a huge three with two seconds remaining against Ball State to force overtime where East Carolina out-scored the Cardinals 19-6 in the extra period.

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

Remember the Titans
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.

Three Me
ECU has made at least one three-point basket in 211 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:

Pirates Picked Sixth In AAC 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 quartet 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 returns to Minges Coliseum Tuesday, Dec. 20, for a matchup against Southern University out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.