West Lake Norman News

East Carolina University issued the following announcement on January 06.

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After a pause due to COVID-19 delayed the start of conference play, the East Carolina women's basketball team will open its AAC slate by hosting UCF on Saturday afternoon.

East Carolina (7-6, 0-0 AAC) will be playing its first game of 2022 after the Pirates' trip to SMU on New Year's Day was postponed due to COVID-19 issues inside the Pirate program. East Carolina's last game came on Dec. 21 when the Pirates blew out UMES 85-57 at home. It was the second straight win for the Pirates and third in four games. Taniyah Thompson has led the way in that four game stretch, scoring at least 20-points each time out with a career-high 31 against UNCW. Thompson was named the AAC Player of the Week on Dec. 27 after scoring 26 points while grabbing five rebounds. It was the third straight week the junior guard has been honored, having made the Weekly Honor Roll the previous two weeks. Thompson currently leads the AAC in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game and has 907 career points, leaving her 93 points away from becoming the 24th player in ECU history to reach 1,000 points in the Purple and Gold. Thompson is not the only Pirate climbing the career leaderboards, as Tiara Chambers blocked a pair of shots against UMES to give her 73 career blocks, tying the senior forward for ninth in East Carolina history. Chambers needs one more block to pass Gretta Savage and three more to tie Lu Ann Swaim for eighth all-time.

As a team, the Pirates are once again climbing the NCAA ranks in steals and turnovers forced. East Carolina is currently 13th in the country in steals with 152, averaging 11.7 per game, and 12th in turnovers forced, with 23.2. The Pirates also lead the AAC in blocked shots per game, swatting 4.6 shots, and free throw attempts, getting to the line 264 times. While East Carolina has not shot the ball well, ranking eighth in the conference in field goal percentage at 39.3%, but the Pirates have done a great job of tracking down their misses, ranking 13th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds with 16.2 per game. Behind Thompson, Danae McNeal is the second leading scorer, averaging 9.5 points. Alexsia Rose leads the team and is third in the conference in assists with 56.

UCF (9-2, 1-0 AAC) is on top of the very early AAC standings after opening conference play with a 54-47 road win over Tulane. The Knights have build their record on the back of one of the stingiest defenses in the country. UCF is allowing just 48.1 points per game, a mark that not only leads the AAC, but is second in the country. The Knights also lead the AAC in opponents' field goal percentage (34.4%, 22nd in the country), personal fouls per game (13.9, 29th), and fewest fouls (153, 32nd) while ranking second in the league and 23rd in the country in steals per game at 11.5. Diamond Battles ranks second in the AAC with 2.55 steals per game while Alisha Lewis (2.45, third) and Tay Sanders (2.18, fifth) are both in the top-five. Battles leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.9 points and is third in the AAC in minutes played, averaging 35.0 minutes. Sanders is the other Knight averaging double-figures, scoring 11.0 points while Destiny Thomas grabs a team-high 8.4 rebounds.

The series between East Carolina and UCF is knotted at 12 wins apiece, but recently, the Knights have dominated the Pirates. East Carolina is just 2-7 against UCF since joining the American conference in the 2014-15 season and have lost seven straight games against the Knights. Last season, ECU had a pair of chances to snap that losing streak, but fell 58-51 at home and 52-47 on the road. After the postponement of the SMU game, the contest against UCF will now be the AAC opener for East Carolina, the second time in three seasons that the Pirates open their AAC slate against the Knights. That loss to UCF in 2020 was the sixth straight year that East Carolina started conference play with a loss, but the Pirates snapped that streak last season by beating SMU.

Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., on Saturday afternoon and fans can buy tickets here. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and Pirate Nation can follow the live stats here.  

Original source can be found here.