GAMEDAY PREVIEW: East Carolina vs Cincinnati

Wednesday, February 22

Greenville, N.C.

7 PM

East Carolina University

Cincinnati

February 21, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Watch Live Live Stats Listen Live

Game 28: East Carolina vs. Cincinnati
Date	Wednesday, February 22
Time	7:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Minges Coliseum)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina (10-17, 1-13 AAC) will host Cincinnati (16-10, 7-6 AAC) Wednesday on Senior Day. Prior to the 7 p.m. tip-off in Minges Coliseum, the women's basketball team, coaches and ECU administration will recognize six seniors in a brief Senior Day ceremony.

The Pirates ride an 11-game losing streak into Wednesday's American Athletic Conference matchup with the Bearcats. Cincinnati has won just two of its last seven games and has defeated all but three AAC opponents its faced at least once this season.

East Carolina is led by Kristen Gaffney who averages 14.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. The Pirates average 61.6 points per game and are holding opponents to 30.2 percent from three-point range. Bre McDonald is second in scoring for the Purple and Gold with 11.4 points per game while Khadidja Toure is coming off her third 20-point performance of the season after scoring 20 points against UCF last Saturday. Toure made a career-best five treys against the Knights in the Pirates' last outing.

Scouting the Bearcats
After a 14-5 overall and 5-1 American Athletic Conference start, Cincinnati has gone 2-5 since its last seven games. The Bearcats are 7-6 overall in league play and have earned wins against all but three (Tulane, USF and UConn) AAC schools. Cincinnati has three players averaging double figures this season with Shanice Johnson leading the squad with 15.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. The Bearcats are averaging 63.7 points per game and are shooting 38.2 percent from the field per game. Cincinnati ranks third in the league in free throw percentage (.744), blocked shots (3.7), and three-point field goal defense (.296).

The Series
East Carolina leads the series 7-5 and is 5-1 against the Bearcats under head coach Heather Macy. In the last meeting, Cincinnati defeated ECU by 10, 74-64, in Cincinnati. The Pirates hold a 2-1 record against the Bearcats at home inside Minges Coliseum.

Last Time Out (Feb. 18)
East Carolina lost its 13th American Athletic Conference match of the season to UCF (17-9), 79-51, inside the CFE Arena Saturday. Khadidja Toure scored a team-best 20 points while Aliyah Gregory led all scorers with 27 points. UCF took an early lead and never turned back. The Pirates trailed by as many as 32 points in the game and were in a 19-poinit deficit at halftime.

The Pirates shot 33.9 percent from the field in the loss and were outrebounded 45-26. UCF had three players score in double figures and averaged 46.3 percent from field goal range in the game. Toure connected on five three-pointers contributing to her 20 points, tying a career-best made baskets from behind the arc. In her first career-start, Justice Gee scored six points and had a team-best six rebounds. Her opening trey gave the Pirates their only lead of the game, 3-2, at 8:44. Dominique Claytor matched Gee's rebounds with six boards of her own.

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 127.

Senior Sendoff
East Carolina will honor its six graduation seniors, Antoinette Bannister, Fanni Csutoras, Kristen Gaffney, Gabrielle Holston, Bre McDonald and Khadidja Toure before Wednesday's game against Cincinnati as part of a pre-game Senior Day ceremony.

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

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. The Pirates have now made a trey in 228 of the last 229 games.

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 700 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. On Sunday, ECU volunteered with Upward Basketball where the players taught basketball skills drills to attendees.

Up Next
The Pirates head to the Lone Star State for the regular season finale against Houston at 3 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.