Women’s Basketball Set to Face No. 20/21 USF Saturday

Game 18: East Carolina at No. 20/21 USF
Date	Saturday, Jan. 14
Time	7:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Tampa, Fla. (Sun Dome)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina (10-7, 1-3 AAC) travels to Tampa, Fla., to face No. 20/21 USF (13-2, 2-1 AAC) at the Sun Dome Saturday night. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.

Kristen Gaffney and Bre McDonald are leading the Pirates with 15.4 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Additionally, Gaffney has a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game. East Carolina is shooting 42.1 percent from field goal range this season and is holding opponents to 39.3 percent. From three-point range, ECU is shooting 33.6 percent and is led by Antoinette Bannister (.367).

Saturday's game marks the third straight time the Purple & Gold will go head-to-head with an undefeated at home opponent. USF is 6-0 inside the Sun Dome this season.

Scouting the Bulls
USF enters Saturday night's match 13-2 overall and 1-2 in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls suffered their first loss in AAC play in a 102-37 rout by No. 1/1 UConn in Hartford, Conn. USF is paced by Kitija Laksa who averages 20.6 points per game this season. Two other Bulls are averaging double figures while Maria Jesperson leads with 9.4 rebounds per game.

The Series
East Carolina leads the all-time series 6-4 against USF. The Pirates are 3-2 on the road against the Bulls. The last three ECU wins over USF have been decided by five points or less with the most recent win happening Feb. 15 2015 (65-64). Last time the two met, the Bulls downed East Carolina 75-54 inside the Sun Dome Jan. 17, 2016.

Last Time Out (Jan. 11)
Last Wednesday, the Pirates suffered a 78-47 loss on the road at Temple. Raven Johnson led East Carolina with 10 points and six rebounds, both career highs. Dominique Claytor added eight points, another career high, for ECU in the loss. The Pirates shot 32.7 percent from the field in the loss and were held scoreless from three-point range for the first time since Feb. 6, 2010 at UCF, snapping a 218-game streak.

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 4-0 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 12 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
The loss at Temple snapped a 218-game streak of that East Carolina made at least one three-point basket. Prior to Temple, the last time the Pirates did not make at least one was Feb. 6, 2010 at UCF.

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 returns home to host UCF Wednesday night at Minges Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.

Players Mentioned

Antoinette Bannister

Dominique Claytor

Alexis Cortez

Kristen Gaffney

Raven Johnson

Bre McDonald

Thais Oliveira

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