Women's Basketball Hosts ECU on Senior Day Saturday

Saturday, February 28

McGonigle Hall

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

East Carolina

Senior Tyonna Williams will be honored before Saturday's game

Women's Basketball Hosts ECU on Senior Day Saturday

2.27.15 | Women's Basketball

PHILADELPHIA -- The Temple women's basketball team will host East Carolina on Saturday at 2 p.m. at McGonigle Hall in the final home game of the season for the Owls. Temple will celebrate "Senior Day" before the match-up, honoring Tyonna Williams for her career in cherry and white. The game will be broadcast by ESPN3.

Temple is 10-6 in conference play, having won three out of its last four games. The Owls are 14-15 overall and will be looking to move to .500 on the season against ECU. Temple is coming off a 55-39 road win at SMU on Wednesday.

Against the Mustangs, the Owls took a 21-21 tie into the locker room and then outscored SMU, 34-18, in the second half to seal the victory. Freshman Alliya Butts led all players with 17 points, adding three assists and a pair of steals. Classmate Tanaya Atkinson chipped in with 10 points and five boards, while senior Tyonna Williams added seven points and six assists. Also for the Owls, junior Mama Traore had seven boards with six points, while sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald and freshman Khadijah Berger each added five points.

Butts leads the Owls in scoring with 12.8 points per game overall, 15.0 per game in conference play. Fitzgerald has come off the bench in the last 16 games and is averaging 11.1 points a contest, while dishing out 81 total assists. Junior Erica Covile and Atkinson are key players on both sides of the ball for Temple, with Covile averaging 11.0 points and a team-best 8.4 boards per game, while Atkinson averages 10.4 points and 7.0 boards per game. Senior Tyonna Williams is averaging 10.0 points per game and is leading the team with 92 total assists.

Temple shoots 36.5% from the field and 31.8% from beyond-the-arc. The Owls free throw percentage is third in the conference, with Temple connecting on 71.5% of all attempts from the free throw line. Temple averages 66 points per game, while giving up 65.8. The Owls are being out-rebounded by 0.5 boards per game, but force 2.1 more turnovers per game then they give up themselves.

East Carolina enters Saturday's contest as one of the hottest teams in the conference, having won six-straight games. The Pirates are most recently coming off a 53-40 win over Cincinnati, moving ECU to 19-8 overall, 10-6 in The American.

Against Cincinnati, the Pirates committed a season-low 12 turnovers and held a 45-30 advantage in rebounding, including a 22-4 difference on the offensive glass, to wrap up the win at home. Redshirt junior Jada Payne scored a game-high 16 points on 7-for-17 shooting and junior I'Tiana Taylor hit six of 16 shots to add 12 points and seven rebounds to lead ECU. Senior Janesha Ebron handed out seven assists and junior Jasmine Phillips contributed eight points and eight boards off the bench.

For the season, Payne leads the Pirates with 17.0 points per game, while also pulling down 5.6 rebounds an outing. Taylor nears a double-double with her season averages of 10.7 points and 9.2 boards per game. Abria Trice chips in with 9.8 points per game, while Jasmine Phillips averages 9.0 points an outing with team-highs of 23 blockes and 50 steals.

East Carolina averages 66.3 points per game, yielding only 57.7 points per game to opponents. The Pirates shoot 39% from the field and 34.2% from three-point range, but only connect on 63.2% of their free throw opportunities.

Saturday's game will mark the first ever meeting between the programs. After spending 13 seasons in Conference USA, the Pirates joined The American for the 2014-15 season.

Watch Live (ESPN3) | Live Stats | Game Notes (PDF)