Sheilah Cotton

Sheilah Cotton, the first female athlete to be inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame, played basketball and volleyball for the East Carolina Lady Pirates from 1971-75.

Cotton left her mark here at ECU in more ways than one, setting numerous scoring and rebounding records. She helped the Lady Pirates to a four-year record of 47-17.

Cotton set several single game records as well as career marks. She established the record for most field goal attempts in a game with 33, and previously set single game records of most points in a game (33), and highest rebound average for a season with (8.3 rpg). Cotton grabbed 15 rebounds in a game six times, scored 30 or more points in five games and finished her career with 1,152 points. She scored 442 points as a senior during the 1974-75 season.

During the 1972-73 campaign, Cotton led ECU to the AIAW national tournament and an overall record of 18-2 as the Lady Pirates won the school’s only AIAW state title that season.

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