Gameday: ECU Travels To Tulane For AAC Opener

Saturday, January 5

New Orleans, LA

3 PM

East Carolina University

Tulane University

Photo by: Sam Roberts

January 03, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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Game 14: ECU (9-4) at Tulane (10-3)
Date	Saturday, Jan. 5
Time	3 p.m. (EST)
Location	New Orleans, La. (Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse)
Coverage	Live Stats \ Listen \ Watch
Information	ECU Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUWomensHoops Instagram: @ECUWomensHoops Facebook: ECU Women's Basketball

GREENVILLE, N.C. – With the start of 2019 comes the beginning of the AAC schedule as the ECU women's basketball team travels to Tulane on Saturday, Jan. 5.

ECU (9-4) struggled at the end of the nonconference schedule, dropping its final two games of 2018. The Pirates most recently dropped a 71-68 decision to UNC Wilmington, the first home loss of the season for ECU. Necole Hope led ECU with a career-high 25 points against the Seahawks, shooting a blistering 6-of-8 from the three-point arc. Hope's six threes were the most since Ariyana Williams also made six against Savannah State in Dec. 2017 and is the eighth time in program history a player has made at least six threes. Also reaching double figures for the first time this season was Alex Frazier, with the senior guard shooting 6-of-9 from the field and scoring 13 points.

The Pirates lead the AAC in steals per game, with 12.1 while Lashonda Monk (3.8 spg) is the conference's individual steals leader. ECU is also the conference's leader in turnover margin, as the Pirates force 23.9 turnovers per game while turning it over 16.2 times themselves. Raven Johnson leads the team in both scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg), ranking in the top-12 in the conference in both categories. Johnson and Monk have both set new career-highs in single-game scoring this season, with Johnson scoring 24 and Monk adding 25 points against Wake Forest. Adding in Hope's career-high 25 points against Wilmington gives three different Pirates who have broken the 20 point-barrier.

Tulane (10-3) comes into the weekend on a three-game winning streak and the Green Wave have been dominant at home, going 6-1 in Avron B. Fogelman Arena. Tulane's defense has allowed just 55.4 points per game, the third-best average in the AAC this season. The Green Wave is shooting 43.2% from the field while opposing teams are the shooting 34.3% against Tulane, both of which are the second-best mark in the conference, as is Tulane's 37.9% from behind the three-point arc. Krystal Freeman leads the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.3 rpg). Also averaging double figures in scoring is Sierra Cheatham, who is at 10.8 points per game and has made a team-best 26 threes.

Tulane leads the all-time series between the two schools 17-6 and has won four straight matchups against ECU. Since joining the AAC, the Pirates are just 1-5 against the Green Wave. Last season, ECU traveled to New Orleans and dropped a 64-58 decision. The Pirates are just 4-6 all-time at Tulane. The last road win for ECU was on Jan. 31, 2015 when Abria Trice's 16 points helped ECU claim a 67-63 win.

ECU is 18-15 all-time in conference openers, dating back to the Pirates' first CAA game during the 1985-86 season. However, ECU is yet to win a league opener during its four years in the AAC. Last season, the Pirates fell to Cincinnati 66-54 at home. In the 2015-16 season, ECU came close to opening with a 1-0 AAC record but lost to Tulsa 81-79 in overtime. The Pirates have also dropped openers to Tulane in 2016-17 and USF in 2014-15. The last ECU win in a conference opener came when ECU beat Florida Atlantic 61-58 in its final C-USA opener.

Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m., on Saturday afternoon. Fans can stream the game here, listen to the live radio broadcast here or follow the live stats here.