Saturday, January 14
Dallas, Texas
7 PM
East Carolina University
12-6,3-2AAC
66
at
68
SMU
12-5,3-2AAC
1
2
3
4
OT 1
F
East Carolina
10
12
20
17
7
66
SMU
17
21
11
10
9
68
Resilient Pirates Show Heart in Defeat at SMU, 68-66
January 14, 2023 | Women's Basketball
DALLAS, Texas – The East Carolina women's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to SMU, 68-66, in overtime on Saturday.
In a game like the one that took place in Moody Coliseum Saturday night, it's hard to find what stat matters. It's hard to say that this turnover or that foul or that bucket was the difference. Chantae Embry scored 20 and Savannah Wilkinson scored 17 to lead the Mustangs (12-5, 3-2 AAC), sure. And they were indeed impressive. There's a reason SMU is 9-0 at home.
But it's hard to quantify a comeback from 18 down in the final 20 minutes. It's hard to put into numbers how a team with a history of folding in those situations instead put their foot to the gas and gutted their way back into the game.
Danae McNeal scored 26 again and had six steals. The AAC Player of the Week continued her streak of otherworldly play. But Micah Dennis's dive after a loose ball to call time out with 4:43 to play in regulation perhaps better encapsulates the quality of what allowed ECU back into the game.
It was heart, it was effort, it was guts. The Pirates (12-6, 3-2 AAC) fell in Dallas on Saturday night but hope springs eternal for a youthful team giving life to a program which hasn't seen it in a while.
East Carolina lost a three-game winning streak Saturday; but when one streak ends, there is nothing to do but to start another.
Up Next
The Pirates return home to Minges Coliseum for a battle with the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
In a game like the one that took place in Moody Coliseum Saturday night, it's hard to find what stat matters. It's hard to say that this turnover or that foul or that bucket was the difference. Chantae Embry scored 20 and Savannah Wilkinson scored 17 to lead the Mustangs (12-5, 3-2 AAC), sure. And they were indeed impressive. There's a reason SMU is 9-0 at home.
But it's hard to quantify a comeback from 18 down in the final 20 minutes. It's hard to put into numbers how a team with a history of folding in those situations instead put their foot to the gas and gutted their way back into the game.
Danae McNeal scored 26 again and had six steals. The AAC Player of the Week continued her streak of otherworldly play. But Micah Dennis's dive after a loose ball to call time out with 4:43 to play in regulation perhaps better encapsulates the quality of what allowed ECU back into the game.
It was heart, it was effort, it was guts. The Pirates (12-6, 3-2 AAC) fell in Dallas on Saturday night but hope springs eternal for a youthful team giving life to a program which hasn't seen it in a while.
East Carolina lost a three-game winning streak Saturday; but when one streak ends, there is nothing to do but to start another.
Up Next
The Pirates return home to Minges Coliseum for a battle with the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Team Stats
ECU
SMU
FG%
.360
.464
3FG%
.250
.286
FT%
.538
.800
RB
37
42
TO
11
26
STL
16
6
Game Leaders
Pts
26
FGM
10
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
Guard
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