GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Senior Jennifer Jackson recorded a game-high 18 points and Shanita Sutton netted 12 points to pace the Pirates to their second straight win Friday night over Memphis, 60-47, in the Conference USA opener inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

The Pirates (5-9, 1-0), who took a two-point lead 30-28 into the half, opened the second half on a 15-3 run on a Nicole Days lay-up with 7:08 remaining to give ECU their biggest lead of the night 14 (45-31) and never looked back.

In the second half, the Pirates held Memphis (7-7, 0-1) to just two baskets in the first 13 minutes and limited the Tigers to 23 percent (7-30) shooting from the floor in the half. ECU forced 21 turnovers, grabbed 42 rebounds, 27 on the defensive end and held the Tigers to 32 percent shooting in the game.

"Our defense did a really good job tonight", said Head Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener. "If we're going to win games we are going to have to defend well because we are still having a hard time putting the ball in the basket. Luckily we scored more points than them and our defense played well."

Jackson drained a career-best 11 free throws, hitting 6-of-6 in the last minute and moved to within five points of seventh place on ECU's all-time scoring list (1,257). She also recorded a career-high seven assists and tied Misty Horne for third place on ECU's all-time 3-point field goals made list (137).

The Pirates will return to action Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. when they face Saint Louis inside Williams Arena.

East Carolina vs. Memphis
Jan. 7, 2005
Post Game Notes

Sharon Baldwin-Tener
Post Game Quotes

On handling the press: "I think we handled the press pretty well. We had been discussing it for several days and I actually thought that Memphis would press us more than they did. We did have a couple of turnovers but I thought we handled the ball pretty well."

On Conference USA play: "Once you get into conference play anything can happen. There are a lot of good teams in our conference and if you looked at this game, on paper I don't think we were suppose to beat Memphis. We will come out here ready to play Saint Louis on Sunday."