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March 18, 2010

ECU Women's Basketball Gameday Central

Complete WNIT First Round Game Notes

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The East Carolina women's basketball team returns to the postseason for the first time since 2007, traveling to Drexel Friday for the first round of the WNIT. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

The Lady Pirates are making their first-ever appearance in the WNIT and earned an at-large bid to the event. ECU's last postseason action occurred in the 2007 NCAA Tournament as an automatic qualifier after winning the Conference USA Tournament.

Drexel, also an at-large entrant, has an overall record of 17-13 this season and recently fell to Delaware 76-71 in overtime in the 2010 CAA Tournament quarterfinals. First Team All-CAA senior Gabriela Marginean led the Dragons with 27 points, eight boards, four steals and four assists and became Drexel's second all-time leading rebounder. Marginean paces Drexel with 23.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

East Carolina has played Drexel just once in program history, picking up a 66-54 win in the 2005 Lady Pirate Invitational at Minges Coliseum Dec. 4.

Second-Team All-CUSA sophomore Ashley Clarke leads a potent ECU offense that is tops in the WNIT field in field goal percentage (46.2) and seventh in overall scoring, averaging 71.9 points per game. The Lady Pirates beat UNCW, Towson, VCU and American this season while Drexel was 4-2 against the same teams with losses to UNCW and Towson.

The winner of Friday's contest will take on the winner of the Maryland-Iona game in the WNIT's second round. Site and game time will be announced once the matchup is determined.

AGAINST THE FIELD OF 64
East Carolina should be familiar with a number of teams in this year's newly expanded field of 64, as the Lady Pirates squared off against seven of them. ECU rung up a record of 5-2 in contests with those foes, picking up wins over American, Charlotte, Houston, South Florida and Virginia Commonwealth while losing to Gardner-Webb and SMU. Even more impressively, three of those victories occurred on the road.

AMONG THE WNIT PARTICIPANTS
The Lady Pirates are among the top 10 in many categories among WNIT participants. ECU is first in field goal percentage, second in three-point field goal percentage, fifth in assists per game and eighth in rebound margin while falling just outside the top 10 in scoring margin (13th). Additionally, Ashley Clarke is eighth among all WNIT players in assists per game.

SETTING THE STANDARD
The Lady Pirates surpassed a few team single season records along the way to the semifinals of the 2010 C-USA Tournament. ECU now has the most points (2,300) and three-point field goals (175) of any team in program history.

EIGHT-STRAIGHT
With Ashley Clarke's selections to the C-USA Second and All-Defensive Teams, ECU has had an all-conference honoree every season since joining the league prior to the 2001-02 campaign.

SEEMS SO EASY NOW
The Lady Pirates reached the conference tournament semifinals for the second time in the last four seasons when they topped Memphis March 9. Before the 2007 championship run, East Carolina had never reached the final four of the event.

THATS A LOT OF POINTS GUYS
ECU exploded on offense in the first round contest with Southern Miss, grabbing a 102-64 victory. That point total stands as the highest ever in a C-USA Tournament affair.

KEEP THEM OFF THE GLASS
In conference games this season, the Lady Pirates have given up 252 offensive rebounds, an average of 15.8 per contest. That mark led to 231 second chance points for opponents.

VALUE EVERY POSSESSION
ECU has reached the 20-turnover mark 21 times this season, including 31 against Tulane. That has led to a turnover margin of -3.0 - the worst mark in the league and one of the bottom in the nation. Additionally, teams have scored 607 points off of those giveaways.

LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE IN JUST ONE YEAR
A couple of the Lady Pirate players have moved into the top 10 in the single season ECU ledgers. Allison Spivey is first in three-point field goals made with 62. Additionally, Kim Gay is fourth in free-throw percentage at .811 and Ashley Clarke is seventh in assists with 172. Clarke is within striking distance of former teammate Jasmine Young, who put up the fifth-best total with 186 in the 2007-08 campaign.

KEEP RACKING THEM UP
The 40 wins between the 2008-09 season and the current campaign are the third-most in a two-year span in program history - three behind the 1979-81 seasons.

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