Pirates Kick Off League Play Hosting UAB on Tuesday

Tuesday, December 30

Greenville, NC

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

UAB

December 29, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Game 14: East Carolina (8-5, 0-0 American) vs. UAB (7-5, 0-0 American)
Date	Tuesday, December 30
Time	6:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Minges Coliseum)
Tickets	Purchase Here
Media Coverage	Live Stats: StatBroadcast Streaming: ESPN+
Game Notes	East Carolina \| UAB
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUWBB Instagram: @ECUW BB

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina women's basketball team gets American Conference play underway on Tuesday as they welcome the UAB Blazers to Minges Coliseum for a 6 p.m. contest.

Tickets are still available for purchase and for those unable to attend, the game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.

Last Time Out
The Pirates took their fourth straight game in an 81-59 thumping of Campbell on Dec. 21. The team began the game on a 9-2 run and closed the first quarter on a 7-0 run to open up an early lead. Keanna Rembert led all scorers in the first quarter with seven points as the hosts went up 22-17 after 10 minutes played. Part of Rembert's first-period effort was a made three-point shot, marking three-consecutive games with a made three for the senior forward. Though Campbell briefly cut into the lead in the second, a quick 6-0 run with some stingy defense got ECU up by 10 for the first time, 30-20, and forced a Camels timeout at the 5:30 mark of the period. The run was extended to eight straight on a Zaniah Zellous post score to put the Pirates up a dozen before it finally ended.

In the second half, back-to-back threes by Kennedy Fauntleroy at the 7:33 and 6:50 marks of the third quarter made it a 13-point game before Jayla Hearp punctuated what was then a 10-0 run with a fast-break layup. The Camels did not score until their drought reached 5:07 and the scoring run had extended to 14-0. Olivia Hilliard knocked down a three-point shot at the buzzer to end the third quarter with ECU leading by 19, 59-40. The Pirates led by as many as 25 points in the final quarter before going to the bench in the final minutes. Every player who recorded more than three minutes in the game got on the scoreboard and five ECU players scored in double figures.

Scouting UAB
The Blazers enter the game with a 7-5 record after defeating Samford in their last contest before the holiday break. Statistically, five UAB players are averaging double figures this season with Cali Smallwood leading the charge at 13.9 points per game. Monae Duffy leads the team in rebounding with 7.3 per contest to go with her 10.2 points per outing. As a team, the Blazers are shooting it well this season with a 43.2 percent clip from the field, including better than 38 percent from three. The team is also shooting 79.2 percent from the foul line. UAB is 15th in the NCAA in three pointers per game with 9.6 made per contest.

Series History
The Pirates and Blazers have met 27 times dating back to a 1979 meeting. ECU leads the series 16-11. The teams last met in Birmingham last season in a 61-56 Pirates win. Amiya Joyner led the team that day with 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Pirates took a wire-to-wire result.

ECU versus...
ECU is 76-107 all time in American Conference regular season play and 34-55 in the McNeill era. ECU is 114-148 all time in games against current members of the American Conference.

ECU is 18-17 all time against schools from the state of Alabama and 1-1 in the McNeill era (both UAB).

Team Scoring
First time with consecutive games of 80+ points for ECU since Nov. 11 and 13, 2016 in wins over Greensboro and Detroit-Mercy. The program has not had a string of three-straight 80-point games since Nov. 14-20, 2015.

Thousand-Point Milestone
With a free throw at the 5:01 mark of the fourth quarter against Campbell, graduate forward Anzhané Hutton scored her 1,000th career point. Hutton has scored 365 points in an ECU uniform.

Weekly Honors
For her 30-point outing against Wofford and her 12 points against Campbell, Taylor Barner earned American Conference Weekly Honorable Mention recognition on Dec. 22.

National Rankings
Through 13 games, the Pirates rank 19th in free throws made per game (16.46). Individually, Kennedy Fauntleroy ranks 25th in the nation in steals with 36.

Campbell Game Notables

Freshman forward Zaniah Zellous scored eight points in the first half, besting her previous season high for a game (7).
Senior guard Kennedy Fauntleroy made back-to-back threes at 7:33 and 6:50 in the third quarter as part of a 14-0 run.
With her final rebound with 4:08 remaining in the game, Zellous secured her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
ECU led by as many as 25 in the fourth quarter. • Five players scored in double figures. ECU had three-or-more scorers in double figures for the seventh time in 12 games.
It was the second-consecutive game in which ECU shot exactly 28-57 from the field.
ECU has held their opponents under 40-percent shooting for four-consecutive games and six of the last seven.
ECU assisted on half of their made shots (14-28). It is the eighth time in which the team has assisted on 50 percent-or-more of made shots this season.
ECU has made multiple three pointers in 20 consecutive games dating back to Feb. 15, 2025 vs. Charlotte.
ECU shot 87 percent (20-23) from the foul line and is now shooting 74.8 (214-286) for the season

At the Helm
2025-26 is the Pirates' seventh under the tutelage of Kim McNeill. The program has an 95-97 record under her leadership.

Reclaim
Each season the Pirates choose an important word, meaningful to the team, to put on the back of their practice jerseys. In 2025-26, the team chose the word "Reclaim", signifying the group's goals after a turbulent 2024-25 of returning to their roots as a defensive minded team, getting back to their standards as role models in the community and striving for excellence in the classroom.