Gameday: East Carolina Hosts Tulane In American Conference Opener

Saturday, December 31

Greenville, N.C.

2:30 PM

East Carolina University

Tulane

Gameday: East Carolina Hosts Tulane In American Conference Opener

December 30, 2016 | Women's Basketball

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Game 14: Tulane at East Carolina
Date	Saturday, Dec. 31
Time	2:30 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes \\\ Tulane Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina welcomes Tulane to Minges Coliseum New Year's Eve in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., as the contest is the back end of a doubleheader with the men's squad who hosts SMU at noon.

The Pirates finished their non-conference slate with a 9-4 record after falling to William and Mary 82-72 in Williamsburg Wednesday.

ECU holds a 6-1 record at home this season with its lone blemish a nine-point loss to Auburn back on Nov. 20. Under head coach Heather Macy, East Carolina is 68-23 inside Minges Coliseum.

With a 26-point performance against the Tribe, Kristen Gaffney upped her scoring average to a team-best 16.3 points per game – a mark that is the eighth best among AAC players. Bre McDonald is putting up 13.1 points and 6.8 rebounds a contest while also leading the squad with 29 assists.

Collectively, the Pirates are scoring 69.6 points per game which is the fourth-highest average in the league. ECU is allowing opponents to net 64.8 points an outing. East Carolina is shooting the ball at a 44.2 percent clip from the field, 36.1 percent from the three-point line and 62.1 percent from the charity stripe. The Pirates also rank third in the conference with an average of 15.0 assists per night.

Scouting The Green Wave
Tulane accrued a 9-4 overall record during non-conference play, going 7-0 at home and 1-3 on the road. The Green Wave's lone road win occurred at UTSA by a 75-66 margin back on Nov. 27. Tulane averages 66.9 points per game as a team while allowing opponents to score an average of 61.9 points per outing. The Green Wave is also getting out-rebounded by its foes on average of 36.6-34.8. Tulane is shooting the ball at 44.9 percent from the field, 33.2 percent beyond the arc and 72.4 percent at the free throw line. Kolby Morgan paces the offensive efforts with an 18.5 scoring average while Leslie Vorpahl is also putting up double figures at 11.5 points a night. Harlyn Wyatt is pulling down a team-best 5.1 rebounds per game and is tied for the team lead with eight blocked shots. Tulane has won four straight, including a 77-62 home victory over Maine in its most recent outing. Lisa Stockton is in her 23rd season as the Green Wave head coach and directed the Tulane to a 23-12 overall record and an appearance in the third round of the WNIT.

The Series
Tulane holds a 15-6 lead in the series. The teams have split the last six meetings with the Green Wave sweeping the season series last year. The Pirates have not beaten Tulane at home since taking a 76-68 decision back on Feb. 17, 2007.

Last Time Out (Dec. 28)
William and Mary went on a 16-7 run in the final 4:40 to capture an 82-72 non-conference victory over East Carolina Wednesday night inside Kaplan Arena. Gaffney paced East Carolina with 26 points and six rebounds while McDonald netted 14 points of her own. Khadidja Toure also dished out five assists against no turnovers. Abby Rendle led the Tribe with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks to go along with a 27-point performance by Marlena Tremba. William and Mary knocked down 28 of its 60 attempts (46.7 percent) from the field while ECU converted 27 of 62 (43.5 percent). The Tribe also out-rebounded the Pirates 39-36 and the teams combined for 78 points in the paint. East Carolina's bench out-worked William and Mary's reserves to the tune of 16-9 while ECU also held a 16-13 advantage in second-chance points.

Macy Ascending On ECU All-Time Coaching Wins List
Heather Macy now owns the second-most wins by a head coach in program history. With 11 more victories, she will surpass Sharon Baldwin-Tener (2002-10), who tops the list with 126.

Holston Nominated For NABC Good Works Team
Gabrielle Holston has been 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.

Bannister Comes Up Clutch
East Carolina 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 was a big reason for this success as she drained some big shots for the Purple and Gold. She canned 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 nailed a huge three with two seconds remaining against Ball State to force overtime as 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

Balancing Act
ECU has been a balanced team this season, utilizing all 11 players on its roster in eight of the last nine games. Furthermore, nine Pirates are averaging double-digit minutes played. In the contest at Charlotte, all 11 ECU players scored at least one point.

Three Me
ECU has made at least one three-point basket in 214 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 goes on the road for the first time in league play Wednesday, Jan. 4 when the Pirates head up to Hartford for a matchup against the nation's current No. 1 team Connecticut. Tipoff at the XL Center is set for 7 p.m. The Pirates have faced the Huskies six times in the last two seasons, including two meetings in the AAC Tournament.