SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 19/23 West Virginia University women’s basketball team continues play in the Savannah Invitational on Wednesday, Nov. 23, against East Carolina. Tipoff is slated for 4:30 p.m. ET at the Savannah Civic Center.
Fans can listen to Dan Zangrilli call the game on the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG, WVUsports.com, TuneIn and the WVU Gameday app. Live stats will also be available at WVULiveStats.com. Click here for a full list of affiliates.
West Virginia (4-0) collected an 80-64 win over North Carolina A&T in the opening day of the Savannah Invitational. Sophomore native Tynice Martin scored a career-high 28 points, including 9-of-9 from the free throw line. The Atlanta native has now made 28 consecutive from the charity stripe since the Princeton game on March 18, 2016. Teana Muldrow scored 15 points and led the Mountaineers with nine rebounds.
WVU has held its four opponents this season to less than 40 percent shooting. The Mountaineers field goal percentage defense of 25.8 percent (60-of-233) ranks in the top five nationally. Martin paces the Mountaineers with 22.8 points per game followed by Muldrow’s 13.5 points per contest. Lanay Montgomery leads the Mountaineers with 11.3 rebounds per contest.
WVU and East Carolina will meet for the fifth time on Wednesday. The series is even at 2-2. However, WVU has won the last two games in the series, 82-61 in 2003 and 76-54 in 2004.
East Carolina (4-1) has wins over Greensboro College (107-40), Detroit-Mercy (83-81, OT), UNC Wilmington (75-65) and Marist (70-68). The Pirates lone blemish was a 61-52 setback to Auburn on Nov. 20.
ECU is second nationally with a 43.6 (34-of-78) 3-point field goal percentage. The Pirates are 11th with 20.5 assists per game and 16th with 14.3 steals per contest. Offensively, ECU is averaging 77.4 points and shooting 47.6 percent (149-of-313) from the field. Pirates opponents are averaging 63.0 ppg and shooting 35.8 percent (106-of-296).
Kristen Gaffney leads the Pirates with 20.6 ppg and is 12th nationally with 45 made field goals. Former WVU player Bre McDonald is averaging 14.2 points per contest and shooting 83.3 percent from 3-point range. Antoninette Bannister is averaging 10.2 points per contest and leads ECU with 14 three-pointers.
