The Season Preview

TheThe SeasonSeason PreviewPreview 2005-06 Lady Pirates Notebook

JUCO All-American Selection Signs to Play for Lady Pirates Cherie Mills (Louisburg Junior College), a 2005 signee of East Carolina, was named to the 2005 Junior College/Community College Kodak/WBCA All-America team after guiding the Hurricanes (20-4) to the Region X title and National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 17 District Finals. Selection committee members in each of the nine WBCA geographical regions select the ten women's basketball players to be honored. The 6-foot-4 center averaged 22.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Louis- burg, while shooting 63 percent from the floor and 72 percent from the charity stripe. She also garnered Region X Player-of-the-Year honors and Tournament MVP honors for the second straight year. The honor marks the second All-America accolades for Mills. She was named to the second- team last year as a freshman at Louisburg after averaging 18.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. A native of Ayden, N.C., Mills played for the Chargers of Ayden Grifton in high school averaging 27.6 points, 14.7 boards and 7.4 blocks per game on her way to being named the 2003 Daily Reflector Player-of-the-Year. With her 1,278 rebounds, she holds the school record and was 10 rebounds shy of breaking the state record. Mills also holds the school records in points and blocked shots for a career. As a senior, she was rated the top senior in North Carolina by Hoops & Dreams Scouting and in her junior season, she garnered All-Ameri- ca honors from Street and Smith.

Pirates Welcome Seven “Fresh” Faces In her fourth year at the helm of the East Car- olina University women’s basketball program, and for the first time in her coaching career, Sharon Baldwin-Tener will welcome to the bench seven freshman players. With the influx of freshman to the program, combined with the graduation of five seniors from the 2004-05 squad, Coach Bald- win-Tener will rely heavily upon the freshman during the early phases of the season to gain sig- nificant playing time before Conference USA play begins. The following are breakdowns of each freshman, and their records compiled while in high school: Jessica Honesty, a 6-0 forward from Westfield High School, averaged 14 points, five rebounds LaToya Horton

22 2005-06 East Carolina Women’s Basketball and two assists per game during her senior cam- game as a junior. In 2004, she was named the 2A paign. She was named first-team all-district, sec- East Region Most Valuable Player, state tourna- ond-team all-region, selected to the NVWBCA ment championship Most Outstanding Player All-Star team and was named to the Concorde and finished third in the balloting for the 2A State District all-tournament team, despite only play- Player-of-the-Year honors. ing 12 games after suffering an injury during the LaCoya Terry, a 5-10 guard from Hephzibah preseason. High School, averaged 18 points, five rebounds, Impris Manning, a 5-9 guard from five assists and three steals per game during her Thomasville HS, comes to ECU as a member of senior campaign. She was named Georgia Sports- four-consecutive 1A state championship teams. In writers Association 3A Player-of-the-Year and All- her four years, she has helped Thomasville HS to Area Player-of-the-Year after guiding the Lady amass a 95-1 record, while earning all-conference, Rebels' to a perfect 33-0 record and its first state All-Davidson County and WLXN Player-of-the- championship. Week honors. Manning was also named to the Jasmine Young, 5-5 point guard from High Point Enterprise Christmas All-Tournament Monacan High School, Young averaged 14 points team. and eight assists a game during her senior cam- Alicia Person, a three-time Northern Carolina paign. She was named first-team all-state by the All-Conference selection in basketball, averaged coaches, MVP of the state All-Star game, second- 17 points, five rebounds and three assists per team all-state by the Associated Press, Richmond Times-Dispatch Invitational tournament MVP, South- ern Resorts Beach Blowout MVP and Dominion Dis- trict Player of the Year for the third time. Jessica Slack comes to the Pirates as a three-year starter for Sheridan High School. The two-time first- team All-District selection holds Sheridan's career Catherine Coley records in steals (114), three-pointers made (301) Brooke Johnson Joins Staff as well as game records for as Director of Basketball three's (5), steals (13) and Operations yearly records for three's Brooke Johnson was been named Director of (48). Slack has helped the Women’s Basketball Operations by East Carolina Lady Generals to three University Head Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener in consecutive Muskingum September, completing the staff for the upcoming Valley League Champi- 2005-06 season. onships, a 45-3 record over Johnson, who joined the Lady Pirates as Manag- the last two seasons and a er in 2004-05, graduated from Peace College in state semi-final appearance 2003 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in in 2003, while earning Coaching Education. She completed her four-year first-team All-Ohio honors basketball career with the Pacers setting the Divi- during her junior and sen- sion III NCAA assist record as well as having her ior campaign. jersey retired. Gabriela Husarova, a “We are very excited about Brooke joining our 6-1 guard from Poprad, staff in a different capacity,” said Baldwin-Tener. “I Slovakia joins the Lady was very impressed last season with her attitude and Pirates after playing for work ethic and look forward to her having a greater six years in the Club role with more responsibilities with our team this League, Junior league, season.” and Extra-league level. Originally from Kinston, N.C., she is the During the last two sea- daughter of Kelly and Debbie Johnson and has two sons she helped her team brothers, Tate (UNC Wilmington, ’02) and Patrick, place third in the Slovak who graduated from East Carolina in 2000. Begin- Amanda Mills Extra-League. ning his second season at Peace College, her father

2005-06 East Carolina Women’s Basketball 23 serves as Athletic Director and Head Women’s Bas- ketball Coach. . Seven Shy of 500 Entering the 2005-06 season, the Lady Pirates are seven victories shy of reaching the 500-win milestone in the program’s history.

C-USA Sets the Standards For the second time in league history, C-USA had six teams with 20-plus win records. DePaul (26-5), Louisville (22-9), Houston (21-9), TCU (23-10), USF (21-11) and Charlotte (22-9) all reached the 20-plus win plateau this season. Con- ference USA was one of only two leagues in the nation with six or more schools that posted 20-plus win seasons. The Atlantic Coast Conference was the only other school to accomplish the feat, while the Big 12 had five schools with at least 20-wins. Four other conferences had four teams reach 20 victories.

Conference USA Players Move to the Pros Three Conference USA standouts were taken in the 2005 WNBA Draft on April 16 in New York City, including two of the first five selections. TCU's Sandora Irvin was chosen by the Phoenix Mercury with the third overall pick, marking the earliest a C-USA player has ever been selected. Two picks later, UH Cougar Sancho Lyttle stayed in town with the Houston Comets as the fifth selection. DePaul's Jenni Dant was the second pick of the third round by the Comets to team with Lyttle.

Nicole Days Ebonee Downey

24 2005-06 East Carolina Women’s Basketball 2005-06 ECU Women’s Schedule

Date Day Opponent Site Arena (Capacity) Time TV Nov. 8 Tues. Berry (exhibition) Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 7 p.m. Nov. 19 Sat. at Duquesne Pittsburgh, Pa. A.J. Palumbo Center (6,200) 7 p.m. Nov. 25 Fri. vs. Ohio # Greensboro, N.C. Fleming Gymnasium (2,320) 1 p.m. Nov. 26 Sat. vs. Longwood/UNCG # Greensboro, N.C. Fleming Gymnasium (2,320) 3 p.m. Nov. 29 Tues. at N.C. A&T Greensboro, N.C. Corbett Sports Center (5,700) 7 p.m. Dec. 3 Sat. SOUTHERN U. ^ Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 3 p.m. Dec. 4 Sun. DREXEL/IDAHO ^ Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 3 p.m. Dec. 7 Wed. VCU Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 7 p.m. Dec. 16 Fri. at Marshall Huntington, W.Va. Cam Henderson Center (9,043) 7 p.m. Dec. 18 Sun. JAMES MADISON Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 2 p.m. Dec. 29 Thurs. vs. Davidson @ Atlanta, Ga. GSU Sports Arena (5,000) 4 p.m. Dec. 30 Fri. vs. Ga. State/Mississippi Valley @ Atlanta, Ga. GSU Sports Arena (5,000) 2 p.m. Jan. 2 Mon. at Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. Coleman Coliseum (15,043) 6:30 p.m. Jan. 6 Fri. at UAB Birmingham, Ala. Bartow Arena (8,500) 8 p.m. CSTV Jan. 8 Sun. at Memphis Memphis, Tenn. Elma Roane Fieldhouse (2,800) 3 p.m. Jan. 13 Fri. HOUSTON Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 7 p.m. Jan. 20 Fri. at Southern Miss Hattiesburg, Miss. Reed Green Coliseum (8,095) 8 p.m. Jan. 22 Sun. at UCF Orlando, Fla. UCF Arena (5,100) 2 p.m. Jan. 27 Fri. SMU Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 7 p.m. Jan. 29 Sun. TULSA Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 2 p.m. WITN Feb. 4 Sat. MARSHALL Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 4:30 p.m. Feb. 6 Mon. at Rice Houston, Texas Autry Court (4,800) 8 p.m. Feb. 10 Fri. MEMPHIS Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 7 p.m. Feb. 12 Sun. UAB Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 2 p.m. Feb. 17 Fri. at UTEP El Paso, Texas Don Haskins Center (12,000) 9 p.m. Feb. 19 Sun. at Tulane New Orleans, La. Fogelman Arena (3,600) TBA Feb. 24 Fri. SOUTHERN MISS Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 7 p.m. Feb. 26 Sun. UCF Greenville, N.C. Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (8,000) 2 p.m.

Conference USA Tournament (Hosted by SMU; Dallas, Texas) Date Day Opponent Site Arena (Capacity) Time TV Mar. 2 Thurs. First Round Dallas, Texas Moody Coliseum (8,988) TBA Mar. 3 Fri. Quarterfinals Dallas, Texas Moody Coliseum (8,988) TBA Mar. 4 Sat. Semifinals Dallas, Texas Moody Coliseum (8,988) TBA CSTV Mar. 5 Sun. Championship Dallas, Texas Moody Coliseum (8,988) TBA ESPN2 All Games Eastern Standard Time #UNC Greensboro Tournament (Greensboro, N.C.) ^CPW’s/Atavola Lady Pirate Invitational (Greenville, N.C.) @Hyatt Regency Atlanta Invitational (Atlanta, Georgia)

2005-06 East Carolina Women’s Basketball 25 2005-06 Pirate Basketball Rosters

ALPHABETICAL ROSTER No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl-Exp. Hometown High School

20 Catherine Coley C 6-2 Sr.-1L Kyneton, Australia Bendigo Senior

41 Nicole Days F 6-0 So.-1L Burgaw, N.C. Pender County

32 Ebonee Downey G 6-1 Sr.-1L Oxford, N.C. J.F. Webb

33 Jessica Honesty F 6-0 Fr. Chantilly, Va. Westfield

22 LaToya Horton F 6-0 Sr.-3L Hinesville, Ga. Bradwell Institute

45 Gabriela Husarova G 6-1 Fr. Poprad, Slovakia Grammar School Dominika Tatarku

14 Impris Manning G 5-9 Fr. Thomasville, N.C. Thomasville

44 Amanda Mills F/C 6-4 Jr.-1L Hartland, Wis. Arrowhead

35 Cherie Mills C 6-4 Jr. Ayden, N.C. Ayden Grifton

23 Alicia Person G 5-8 Fr. Henderson, N.C. Southern Vance

21 Jessica Slack G 5-11 Fr. Thornville, Ohio Sheridan

25 LaCoya Terry G 5-10 Fr. Hephzibah, Ga. Hephzibah

10 Jasmine Young G 5-5 Fr. Richmond, Va. Monacan

NUMERICAL ROSTER No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl-Exp. Hometown High School