East Carolina women win big and Allison Spivey(High Point Central) comes up big….

Pirates Cruise Past Massachusetts, 97-83
ECU Nails 13 School-Record Three-Point Field Goals

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina drained a program-record 13 three-point field goals
and shot 52 percent from the field to down Massachusetts 97-83 Sunday at Minges
Coliseum in the finale of the Ninth-Annual Pirate Invitational. ECU evens its record
at 3-3 while the Minutewomen fall to 0-6.

The Pirates have won 26 of their last 32 home contests and improved to 3-0 all-time
against Massachusetts. On the school career chart, senior Allison Spivey took over fourth for three-point field goals as her four in the game left her with 156.

Spivey and Kelly Smith knocked down eight combined treys to finish with 16 and 12
points, respectively. Ashley Clarke, Chareya Smith and Kim Gay also put in double
figures with 15, 12 and 11. Gay topped the team with five rebounds while Clarke
recorded a squad-best eight assists as part of a 28-assist performance by the home
team. Additionally, Ariana Jackson pocketed three of the Pirates’ 12 steals.

East Carolina converted 36 of 68 attempts from the field to produce a 52.9
percentage and took care of the ball well, committing just nine turnovers while
forcing 19 from Massachusetts. ECU turned in at least 30 or more field goals in a
game for the 25th time since the start of the 2006-07 season. Shakia Robinson netted
30 points for the Minutewomen, hitting 13 of their 31 shots from the field.

The Pirates jumped out to an 8-0 advantage in the first two minutes with a pair of
three-point field goals. After Kelly Robinson pulled Massachusetts to within 12-6
with a mid-range jumper, East Carolina ripped off an 18-2 run over the next six and
a half minutes to push ahead 30-8.

A Kelly Smith three-pointer at the 7:18 mark gave the Pirates their largest lead of
the contest at 40-16. ECU would keep the margin above 20 until Abbey Lalime hit a
jumper in the paint to make it 46-27 with 4:03 remaining in the half. Clarke would
cap the scoring in the period with six seconds left, taking the ball all the way
down the court off a Robinson free throw and nailing a jumper in the key to leave
East Carolina in front , 55-38.

Clarke and Robinson matched each other with 12 points in the first 20 minutes while
Gay had three rebounds for the Pirates. Spivey also recorded three of her four
triples.

The Pirates torched the nets in the first half, shooting 59 percent (22-for-38) and
grabbing eight steals off of 11 Minutewomen turnovers.

Dee Montgomery made it a 15-point game four minutes into the second half, dropping
in a layup and cutting her team’s deficit to 66-51. However, Shala Hodges responded
with a three-pointer, igniting a 14-6 run that was capped off by another Kelly Smith
triple, making the score 80-57 at the 10:41 mark.

With East Carolina leading 90-66 and 5:20 showing on the clock, Massachusetts made
one last push. Robinson took over for the visitors and almost single-handedly made
it an 11-point affair, scoring 10 of her team’s 15 points in a four and a half
minute stretch. However, only 54 seconds remained as a three-pointer by freshman
Katie Paschal ended the scoring with 22 ticks left and gave the Pirates the program
record from beyond the arc.

For their efforts over the weekend, Gay and Clarke were named to the Ninth-Annual
Pirate Invitational All-Tournament Team.

ECU takes to the road for its next two contests, beginning Thursday in Richmond
against VCU. Tipoff from the Verizon Wireless Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.