Pirate women stay perfect at home, set up showdown with Tulane

After a lackluster first half against UTEP, the East Carolina women's basketball team pulled it together and picked the Miners apart following halftime to keep its perfect home mark in place.

The Lady Pirates, who are 12-0 at home this season, will now host first-place Tulane in a critical CUSA contest on Saturday at 1pm.

The game is one of only two remaining home contests for Sharon Baldwin-Tener's club.

The combination of the ladies' success and such an important game may be enough to give the "Drive for Five" initiative--the name for the push to have 5,000 fans in attendance and set the school record for a women's game--a realistic chance.

Through 12 games, the women have averaged 1,761--including a large crowd of 2,143 against Memphis.

The attendance record was set in 1981 when 4,500 saw the Pirates play No. 6 Southern Cal. (ecupirates.com)

In 2008, a contest with UCF drew 3,227--the program's fifth largest crowd. (ecupirates.com)

Don't be surprised if the effort produces a season-high mark of 3-3,500, but falls a little shy of the record. Either way, such a crowd would make a tremendous statement about the program's growth and direction under eighth year Head Coach Baldwin-Tener.