Women’s Basketball Travels to Temple Wednesday Night

Game 17: East Carolina at Temple
Date	Wednesday, Jan. 11
Time	7:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Philadelphia, Pa. (McGonigle Hall)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina (10-6, 1-2 AAC) travels to Temple (11-3, 2-0 AAC) for an American Athletic Conference tilt Wednesday night inside McGonigle Hall. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. as the two squads go head-to-head for the fourth time in history live on the American Digital Network with Keith Irizarry and Scott Green on the call.

East Carolina is fresh off a 58-57 home win over SMU (10-5, 1-1 AAC) last Saturday. Antoinette Bannister hit a banked three-pointer to lift ECU over the Mustangs for the Pirates' first league win of the season. Bre McDonald posted her fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds en route to being named to the American Athletic Conference Honor Roll.

Collectively, the Pirates rank third in the league in assists per game (14.7) as well as fourth in field goal percentage (.427), three-point field goal percentage (.345) and in defensive rebounds per game (26.6).

Scouting the Owls
Temple rides a seven-game win streak entering Wednesday night's contest against East Carolina. The Owls are 6-0 at home this season and 11-3 overall. Temple is led by Feyonda Fitzgerald who has a team-best 18.8 points per game. The Owls have four players scoring in double figures this season including two who average over 15 points per game. Temple is outscoring its opponents by an average of 11.2 points per game and is shooting 39.9 percent from the field. The Owls are 2-0 in American Athletic Conference action earning wins on the road at Memphis (73-67) in overtime and most recently at home versus Tulane (86-71). Temple has not lost a game since December 7 at Hampton. In the Owls win over Tulane, Tanaya Atkinson netted her 1,00th career point earning herself a spot on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll.

The Series
Temple holds a 2-1 advantage all-time against the Pirates. The two first met in 2015 when Temple defeated ECU 79-69. Last time the two played was January 30, 2016, when Temple defeated East Carolina 83-63 inside Minges Coliseum.

Last Time Out (Jan. 7)
The Pirates improved to 7-2 at home this season with a big American Athletic Conference win against SMU (10-5, 1-1 AAC) last Saturday. Antoinette Bannister hit a game-winning three-pointer and was the hero of the game while Bre McDonald posted her fifth double-double of the season with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. McDonald also dished out a game-high six assists in the win. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Pirates and put ECU in the win column for the first time in AAC action this season.

Due to her efforts against UConn (Jan. 4) and SMU (Jan. 7), McDonald earned a spot on the American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Honor Roll.

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 10 more victories, she will surpass Sharon Baldwin-Tener (2002-10), who tops the list with 126.

Holston Nominated For NABC Good Works Team
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.

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. Most recently, Bannister banked a trey with 15 seconds left in regulation against SMU marking the fourth time this season she has netted the game-winning point for ECU.

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 10 of the last 11 games. Furthermore, nine Pirates are averaging double-digit minutes played. In the contest at Charlotte, all 11 ECU players scored at least one point.

Seeing Triple
ECU has made at least one three-point basket in 218 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 600 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 remains on a two-game road swing for American Conference play. The Pirates head south to take on the Bulls of South Florida Saturday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Antoinette Bannister

Dominique Claytor

Alexis Cortez

Raven Johnson

Bre McDonald

Thais Oliveira

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