AAC Tournament Preview: #11 East Carolina vs. #6 SMU

Game 30: #11 East Carolina vs. #6 SMU
Date	Friday, March 3
Time	8:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun Arena)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ WZMB Radio \\\ East Carolina Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUWomensHoops \\\ #ECUndaunted \\\ #2FTN

Uncasville, Conn. – After finishing the regular season 11-18 overall and 2-14 in American Athletic Conference play, the Pirates of East Carolina will enter the AAC Tournament Friday night as the No. 11 seed, its lowest seed since joining the league three years ago. Matched up against the sixth-seeded Mustangs of SMU, the two will face off at 8 p.m. inside the Mohegan Sun Arena live on ESPN3.

The Purple and Gold is 2-2 in AAC tournament games and has never lost its first game of the tournament. Last season, the eighth-seeded Pirates defeated ninth-seeded Cincinnati in the quarterfinals before clashing with No. 1 UConn in the semifinals.

Kristen Gaffney leads ECU with 14.6 points per game and a team-best 6.6 rebounds per game. Bre McDonald is second on the team in scoring with 11.8 points and 6.1 boards per game. The Pirates average 62.3 points per game, which is 3.5 points per game more than the Mustangs' season average.

In just one meeting this season, East Carolina edged SMU 58-57 when Antoinette Bannister's late-game heroics lifted the Pirates to their first AAC win of the season. The two have met twice in the postseason and have one win each, meeting in 2007 and again in 2009, during the Conference USA Tournament.

Scouting the Mustangs
The Mustangs earned the #6 seed in the American Athletic Conference after finishing in a four-way tie with a 7-9 league record. SMU won tiebreakers over #7 Cincinnati and #8 Memphis and was edged by #5 Tulane. The Mustangs won three of their last regular season games with their only loss coming by way of #4-seed UCF on February 25. Alicia Froling leads the Mustangs with 13.9 points per game and is averaging a double-double with 10.0 boards per game. McKenzie Adams is the only other member of the squad averaging double figures with 11.9 points and 4.3 boards per game.

The Series
Earlier this season, the Pirates edged SMU 58-57 with a banked-in three-pointer by Antoinette Bannister to take a 9-6 lead in the all-time series. East Carolina has won the last two meetings and is 1-1 against SMU in neutral site games. The two faced off in the 2007 CUSA Tournament where the Purple and Gold won 76-62 and again in 2009 where the Mustangs won 77-69. East Carolina is 6-3 against SMU under head coach Heather Macy.

Last Time out (Feb. 25)
East Carolina (11-18) fell to Houston (11-17, 4-11 AAC) in the final game of the regular season, 81-65, to finish the American Athletic Conference season 2-14. Houston had four players score in double figures with Jasmyne Harris leading all scorers with a game-high 27 points. The Pirates had three in double figures with Antoinette Bannister leading the way with 16 points, including a quartet of three-pointers.

Alex Frazier scored a career-high 14 points and led the game with six assists. Bre McDonald was the third member of ECU's squad in double figures scoring 12 points, six rebounds and leading the team with three steals. Kristen Gaffney had a team-best nine rebounds for East Carolina.

The Pirates shot 34.4 percent from field goal range and struggled at the free throw line making 17-of-32 attempts (.531). Backed by Bannister's four treys, the Purple and Gold shot 42.9 percent from behind the arc (6-for-14) marking the third-consecutive game ECU hit five-or-more three pointers. Houston shot 46.3 percent in the win and out rebounded East Carolina 46-38.

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 127.

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. In all five wins, Bannister tallied the game-winning points for East Carolina. Last time East Carolina faced SMU, Bannister hit a banked-in three-pointer for the win.

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 229 of the last 230 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
A win against #6 SMU would pair East Carolina up with #3 USF (22-7, 11-5 AAC) Saturday night at 8 p.m. The Bulls swept the Pirates in two regular season meetings this year.

Players Mentioned

Antoinette Bannister

Dominique Claytor

Alexis Cortez

Alex Frazier

Kristen Gaffney

Raven Johnson

Bre McDonald

Thais Oliveira

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