Gameday: Pirates Matchup With Tulsa On Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, January 12

Greenville, N.C.

1 PM

East Carolina University

University of Tulsa

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

Gameday: Pirates Matchup With Tulsa On Saturday Afternoon

January 11, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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Game 16: Tulsa (8-7, 2-0) at ECU (10-5, 1-1)
Date	Thursday, Jan. 12
Time	1 p.m. (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Coverage	Live Stats \ Watch \ Listen \ Tickets
Information	ECU Notes \ Tulsa Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUWomensHoops Instagram: @ECUWomensHoops Facebook: ECU Women's Basketball

GREENVILLE, N.C. – With an 8-1 record inside Minges Coliseum, the ECU women's basketball team looks to continue defend its home court on Saturday afternoon when the Pirates host Tulsa.

For the first time since joining the American at the start of the 2014-15 season, ECU (10-5, 1-1) won one of its first two conference games. The Pirates dominated Wichita State 78-56 to earn that victory, the biggest margin of victory for ECU this season. The difference in the game came in the third quarter, as ECU shot 11-of-20 from the field and outscored the Shockers 30-12. Lashonda Monk led the Pirates in scoring, finishing with 23 points and shot 4-of-9 from behind the three-point arc, a career-high. Alex Frazier also set a new career-high with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting. ECU out rebounded Wichita State 48-28, just the second time this season the Pirates have won the battle on the glass.

Throughout the season, the Pirate defense has been outstanding at turning teams over and blocking shots. ECU forces 23.5 turnover per game, a mark that leads the AAC and is fifth in the country. Monk leads the conference with 4.00 steals per game and is seventh in the country. ECU is third in the AAC in blocked shots, averaging 3.9 blocks per game. Destiny Campbell leads the team with 23 blocks, including a career-high seven against Monmouth. On the other side of the court, Raven Johnson leads ECU in scoring, ranking 13th in the AAC with an average of 13.2 points. Monk is right behind her, averaging 12.8 points. Johnson is also the team's leading rebounder, pulling down 6.5 boards a game.

Tulsa (8-7, 2-0 AAC) is one of four teams to win its first two AAC games of the season. The Hurricane most recently used a 34-11 second half to top Memphis 46-39. Tulsa also topped 63-49 Wichita State to start conference play. Both wins came at home, where Tulsa is 6-2 this season while the Hurricane is 1-5 on the road. Crystal Polk (13.5 ppg) and Alexis Gaulden (12.9) are both in the top-15 of the conference in scoring so far while Polk is also eighth in rebounding with 7.4 rebounds per game. Gaulden leads the team with 66 assists and is fourth in the conference and is one of the top deep threats, sharing the team-lead of 25 three-point field goals with Morgan Brady (9.8 ppg). In the two conference wins, Desiree Lewis has bumped her scoring average up from 5.9 points to 11.0 points.

The all-time series between ECU and Tulsa is deadlocked at 10 wins apiece. Since the two teams made the move to the American conference in 2014, Tulsa has won four of the seven matchups. However, ECU went 2-0 last season against the Hurricane, winning 73-67 at home and 59-57 on the road. In nine meetings inside Minges Coliseum, the Pirate are 5-4. ECU has never beaten Tulsa three consecutive times, as the 10 Pirate wins in the series have come in groups of two.

Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m., on Saturday afternoon. Fans can watch the game here, listen to the radio broadcast here or follow live stats here.