ECU Athletic Media Relations

GREENVILLE — The East Carolina women’s basketball team will travel to tropical Grand Bahama Island and compete in the 12th annual Junkanoo Jam as part of its non-conference schedule for the 2014-15 season.

The tournament, which will take place Nov. 27-29, is split into two groups with East Carolina residing in the Lucaya division along with Syracuse, Wisconsin and South Carolina.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for our team to experience playing in such a prestigious tournament,” head coach Heather Macy said. “I’m also excited for our six seniors. We’ve been planning this trip for a while and it will be a really nice opportunity for them and their families during the Thanksgiving holiday.”

The Pirates will play the Orange in their first game on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, at 2 p.m. A victory will place ECU in the championship game at 8 p.m., the following evening against the winner between the Badgers and Gamecocks, while a loss will send East Carolina into a consolation game against the loser of that matchup.

Syracuse recorded a 23-10 overall record and 10-6 mark in its first season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013-14. The Orange reached the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many seasons and was ranked as high as 20th in the Associated Press poll.

South Carolina posted a 27-4 record and 14-2 ledger in Southeastern Conference play to win the regular-season crown, en route to receiving a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the Sweet Sixteen.

Wisconsin is coming off a season in which it finished 10-19 overall, 3-13 in Big Ten games and returns just one starter from last year’s team.

In May, the American Athletic Conference announced East Carolina’s pairings for its first year as a member of the league. It includes an 18-game schedule featuring home-and-home tilts against Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa and USF. The Pirates will also host UCF and travel to Temple to round out the slate of games.

Complete versions of ECU’s non-conference and AAC schedules will be released later this summer.