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RAMS WELCOME EAST CAROLINA TO THE SIEGEL CENTER ON TUESDAY NIGHT
Black and Gold look to pick up third straight win over Pirates
11-24-08
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RICHMOND, Va. – Before the Virginia Commonwealth University women's basketball team seats down at the Thanksgiving dinner table, it will look to pick up its third victory of the season as it host the Pirates of East Carolina University in a non-conference contest on Tuesday evening at the Alltel Pavilion.
The Rams concluded its three-game slate in the Preseason WNIT on Friday evening with a home victory over Tulane, 65-49, and now sit at 2-1 on the 2008-2009 campaign. East Carolina will be on the road for the first time this year as the Pirates have opened the season with three straight home wins.
The teams are long-time rivals having played each other 20 times with the Pirates leading the head-to-head 9-11, but the Black and Gold have picked up two straight wins over ECU.
Senior Quanitra Hollingsworth (Chesapeake, Va.) has bounced back from an achilles injury that kept her out the last half of the 2007-2008 season with three straight double-digit games and leads the squad with 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. 
Freshman Jennifer Lane (Wichita, Kan.) (right) has been a welcome addition to the Black and Gold offense by dishing out nine assists and pouring in 5.3 points per game in her first three contests for VCU.
East Carolina is led by the senior guard duo of LaCoya Terry and Jasmine Young who have combined for 31.3 points, 10.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds per outing in the Pirates' three wins this season.
Head Coach Beth Cunningham has tallied 83 career victories in her five-plus seasons with the Rams and now sits just 12 wins away from becoming the winningest
coach in school history.
Game time at the Siegel Center on Tuesday night is set for 7 p.m.
VCUAthletics.com: You shook up the starting lineup for the Tulane game, how much do match-ups affect your choices on the starting lineups?
Cunningham: Match-ups do at times affect who we decide to start at the beginning of each game. For the Tulane game, our coaching staff felt that the five we started were the ones who earned those starting spots in practice last week. Our kids know that who we decide to start is indeed sometimes based off of match-ups, but a largest part is based on who has earned it in those practices leading up to the game.
VCUAthletics.com: We've talked about the aggressive defense all year, what does the team do to force three straight opponnets into 20+ turnovers?
Cunningham: We spend a lot of time and work very hard in practice to set a tone on the defensive end of the floor. We want to play a tough, hard nosed, aggressive, disciplined defense. We have been able to cause some turnovers in our recent games and have caused some teams some problems on the defensive end of the floor, but I also think we have a tremendous amount of improvement and potential to play at an even higher level. We are excited with the potential this team has on both ends of the floor.
VCUAthletics.com: After a tough first half against Tulane, the team really seemed to come alive in the second half, it must have been one heck of a halftime speech?
Cunningham: I think our team played with more of a sense of urgency in the second half against Tulane. I didn't think we were active enough on either end of the floor and on the boards in the first half. That's not a team you want to let hang around, and I think our kids came out and played with more passion and energy in the second half than we did in the first 20 minutes.
VCUAthletics.com: One thing that stood out to me looking at the stat sheet was that every person that got in the game against Tulane tallied a rebound and you guys won the rebounding edge by nine, was that something you specifically worked on?
Cunningham: We have been talking and working on rebounding all year with this team. In order for this team to be successful, all 5 players on the floor are going to have to rebound the basketball, at both ends for us. It will certainly continue to be a point of emphasis all year.
VCUAthletics.com: It's always been a battle with East Carolina over the past few seasons and this year they have started 3-0, what do you see from the Pirates?
Cunningham: I am very impressed with East Carolina's team. This is going to be another battle and great test for us. They have the strong nucleus from last years team all returning. They have veteran leadership and kids that are experienced. They are talented and have a lot of different scoring options. They love to push the ball up and down the floor, so a big key for us is going to be finding a way to stop their transition game. They have a point guard that is as good as any we will see this year. It's going to be a great challenge for us.
VCUAthletics.com: You named Jessica Taylor as one of your "sleepers" entering the year and she proved to be a hard-nosed defender against Tulane with four steals, what makes her so tenacious on the defensive end?
Cunningham: Jessica is so tenacious on the defensive end because she plays with great energy, passion, and intensity. I thought she really got us going coming out of half time in the second half. She came up with a couple steals early in the second half that we were able to convert on. That sort of ignited us on both ends of the floor. Defense in something she really takes a lot of pride in.
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