Pirates Host Memphis In Sunday Matinee | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU Sports.



    GREENVILLE, N.C.     After a thrilling overtime victory, the East Carolina women's basketball team will try to continue its momentum when the Pirates host Memphis on Sunday afternoon.

    East Carolina (9-14, 2-8 AAC) desperately needed a win against Wichita State on Wednesday and the Pirates needed to dig deep to come away with one. ECU trailed by 13 at halftime but fought back to retake the lead in the fourth quarter. A Memphis triple left the Pirates trailing by three with less than 10 seconds remaining, but Taniyah Thompson was fouled on a three-point attempt. Thompson had been in nearly the exact same scenario against Temple three days before, but went 2-of-3 as ECU fell 60-59. This time, the junior guard canned all three and the game went to overtime. After 5-0 runs for each team, ECU had the ball looking to take the lead and although Da'Ja Green's jumper fell off the rim, Thompson was there for the putback. Wichita State had one more chance to retie the game, but Tylar Bennett came up with her fourth block of the game to clinch the Pirate victory.

    Thompson finished with 29 points to lead the Pirates, her second straight game with 29 points. The junior guard has been getting to the free throw line, shooting 18-of-21 over the past two games and is now scoring 17.4 points per game, second in the AAC. Thompson now has 1,075 points in her ECU career, placing her 21st all-time at East Carolina and she needs 12 points to pass Marcia Girven for 20th. Thompson also now has 14 straight games with at least 10 points, the longest streak since Jada Payne went 17 straight in 2015-16 and has 102 made three-pointers, putting her one away from tying Kristine Mial for tenth at East Carolina. Bennett will be looking to move up in the record books as well, after her four blocks against Wichita State gave her 43 on the season. Bennett holds the ECU record for blocks in AAC games, having blocked 30 shots in 10 conference games. The graudate student needs three blocks to tie Monique Pompili for tenth in a single-season as a Pirate and needs 10 more to tie Ondrea Shaw for fifth.

    Memphis (13-8, 4-6) is coming off a tight loss to Tulane. The Tigers fell to the Green Wave 76-74 after cutting a 73-63 deficit to just 73-71 in just over 45 seconds. It was the second straight loss for Memphis and cut short a three-game home winning streak. The Tigers have been better at home this season, going 8-3 in friendly confines while 4-5 on the road, including 1-3 on the road in AAC play. Jamirah Shutes leads Memphis in scoring, averaging 11.9 points. Emani Jefferson is second on the team, averaging 9.8 points and she has upped that average to 11.4 points in conference play. The Tigers outrebound opponents by 5.1 rebounds each night, but Tyler Frierson leads the team with just 5.7 rebounds per game. Memphis instead rebounds well as a group, with five different players grabbing between 4.3 and 5.7 boards each game. The Tigers also spread the burden of playmaking, with Shutes (42), Jefferson (50) and Maya Stovall (46) all handing out at least 40 assists. Memphis has been successful at getting to the free throw line and converting those attempts, ranking second in the AAC in made free throws (298) and third in free throw attempts (417).

    East Carolina holds a slim 18-17 lead in the all-time series between the two programs after ECU swept the season series a year ago. That made it five straight victories over the Tigers for the Pirates, with the last loss for ECU against Memphis coming on Jan. 19, 2019. It is the longest streak for ECU in the series. The Pirates have also controlled the series in Minges Coliseum, going 12-4 at home against the Tigers, with the last loss on their home court coming in 2016.