BRIAN BAILEY: Lady Pirates provide bright spot

From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
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By Brian Bailey

THE BRIAN
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Sharon Baldwin-Tener is a class act and certainly deserves the success her team is finding this season.

The East Carolina Lady Pirates won their fifth straight game on Saturday, beating Conference USA leader Tulane, 76-68. The Green Wave had won 10 games in a row before the loss to ECU.

The five-game winning streak is the longest C-USA streak ever for the Lady Pirates. Baldwin-Tener’s club is now 9-5 in the league, and one game over .500 at 14-13 overall.

“I’m extremely proud of our team today,” said Baldwin-Tener after the win over Tulane. “This was a huge win for our program.”

Senior Cherie Mills was honored for senior day on Saturday. Mills has been a force inside for East Carolina. She is a former high school standout from our area at Ayden-Grifton where she averaged 27.6 points and 14.7 rebounds per game. She also blocked over seven shots a game as a prepster.

Mills was an All-American at Louisburg, and has had a nice two-year career at East Carolina. She is averaging over 15 points per game this year, while hauling in over seven rebounds per contest.

Sophomore guard Jasmine Young is averaging over 13 points per game. Young is the only Lady Pirate in school history to be named the C-USA Freshman of the Year.

The Lady Pirates will play in the Conference USA tournament in Tulsa, OK, beginning March 1. They have a great shot at an opening round bye. They still have road games at Southern Miss and Central Florida.

Fifteenth-ranked UCLA held off East Carolina on Sunday to complete that three-game sweep in Los Angeles.

For the second straight weekend, the Pirates lost a game in giving up a big home run. ECU had the lead late in Saturday’s loss, but a grand slam once again did in the Pirate cause.

East Carolina was certainly competitive in the series, but failed to execute in some critical areas and failed to pull out a win.

The good news is that the Pirates return home for a humongous 21-game home stand, which features two different tournaments and three-game series with Michigan and with Cal State Fullerton.

Harrison Eldridge leads the offense with a .522 average. Eldridge had an inside the park home run in Saturday’s loss. He is off to a great start in the lead-off spot for East Carolina.

Brandon Henderson showed a little pop with a pair of home runs in Sunday’s loss.
The problem wasn’t hits, rather it was hitting in clutch situations. It seemed like every time the Bruins needed a hit, they got one.

The same couldn’t be said for the Pirates, who could have just as easily won games two and three in the series. The bullpen let Billy Godwin down in the second game, and the ECU comeback in game three fell just short.

It was a long trip, but hopefully the competition against one of the nation’s top teams will pay dividends later on.

The weather is expected to be better this week. The Pirates host Campbell on Wednesday afternoon, and then hosts the ECU Invitational beginning Friday. East Carolina host St. John’s, Washington and Duke for the team’s first tournament of the season.