Feb. 14, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss women's basketball team, coming off a two wins over the weekend, hits the road for a re-match against East Carolina Friday. The game will be broadcasted over WXHB-FM 96.5 with the "Voice of the Lady Eagles" Jason Baker providing play-by-play action with former coach Kay James as the color analyst.

Southern Miss (14-9, 5-5) comes into the game, following 77-64 upset win over UAB. In that game, Stephanie Helgson scored a career-high 26 points, while Pauline Lover recorded her 15th double-double of the season. Southern Miss finished the game shooting 52.1 percent from the field

Love continues to lead the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.8 and 11.0, respectively, while Helgeson is next at 11.5, followed by Kendra Reed at 11.1. Andrea Barber leads the team in assists with 6.5 per game. She currently leads the league in assists.

As a team, the Lady Eagles are averaging 73.5 points and 39.9 rebounds, while shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 77.0 percent from the line. Southern Miss has connected on 123-of-339 threes for 36.3 percent.

East Carolina (10-13, 4-6) is coming off an 81-53 loss to C-USA leader UTEP, in which the Jasmine Young was the only Lady Pirate to tally double-figures with 18 points. Impris Manning grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Young and LaCoya Terry lead the team in scoring, averaging 15.0 and 14.6 points, respectively, while Nicole Days leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 rebounds per game.

Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener holds a record of 82-87 at ECU and is in her sixth season at the helm. Last season, Baldwin-Tener guided the ECU to the teams best finish since the 1991-92 season after going 19-14 in 2006-07, leading them to the program first-ever Conference USA Tournament Championship.

As a team, the Lady Pirates are averaging 67.0 points and 40.7 rebounds, while shooting 41.0 percent from the field and 60.5 percent from the line.

This is the 10th meeting between the two teams. East Carolina leads the series 5-4. The Lady Pirates won the previous meeting between the two teams this season.

Following the East Carolina game, Southern Miss heads to Marshall for a Sunday contest at 1 p.m.