GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU women’s basketball team extended its win streak to five-straight games with a 73-61 home win over North Carolina Central on Thursday afternoon inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The Pirates were led by senior center Thais Oliveira who had 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. The Pirates’ fifth annual Education Day game hosted 5,306 fans and Pitt County students, the second largest crowd in program history.ECU trailed 19-15 at the end of the first quarter but the Pirates erupted for a season single-quarter high 27 points in the second. The Pirates led by 13 points at halftime, the largest halftime lead the Pirates have had this season. North Carolina Central was led by Sami Oliver-Alexander who had a team-best 23 points.Ariyana Williams scored in double figures for the seventh consecutive game with 11 points. Destiny Campbell had a career-high 11 points in her first start of the season. Sophomore Raven Johnson added 10 points as the Pirates’ fourth player in double figures.

Team RecordsECU (6-4), North Carolina Central (2-7)

Macy’s Thoughts“This was a great environment. Thanks to the marketing department and everyone who had a hand in putting this event on. I was just talking about when we did it for the first time it was kind of small. There were only 1,000 or so kids. It has grown every single year to 5,000 this year. Thanks to all the administrators and teachers because it takes a lot of people to put this on and it was a great environment for our players because we aspire to having this place full of students but not elementary school students. Let’s get the ECU students out like this. That would be such an incredible atmosphere to have in Minges Coliseum every night.”

“Her skill set is really good and she has the ability to hit the mid-range jumper but also go to the hole. But she’s also a really good passer. So in the way that we want to play offense, she is the prototypical post player.”

Quarterly ScoringTeam                                      1Q       2Q       3Q       4Q       Total   North Carolina Central       19        10        11        21        61ECU                                       15        27        23        8          73

News and Notes·         ECU’s five-game win streak ties the longest since the Pirates began the 2015-16 season with five straight W’s.·         Thais Oliveira had a team-high 18 points with 8 rebounds. ·         Destiny Campbell recorded a career-high 11 points.·         Four Pirates reached double figures in scoring.

 Up NextECU will travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to face off with UTEP on Dec. 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the Philanthropist.com Carolinas Challenge.