Pirates Fall to Seton Hall, 68-57

Wednesday, November 22

Nassau, Bahamas

11 AM

East Carolina University

2-3,0-0AAC

Seton Hall

4-2,0-0Big East

East Carolina

Seton Hall

November 22, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

NASSAU, Bahamas – The East Carolina women's basketball team dropped a tough contest to the Seton Hall Pirates, 68-57, on Wednesday in their final contest of the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Invitational. The teams played relatively even for the majority of the game, but a crushing first-half run by Seton Hall in the first half proved consequential to the final score.

The first half was a rollercoaster of runs as East Carolina (2-3) opened up hot from the tip, running to a 15-10 lead before Seton Hall (4-2) went on a grinding 21-2 run to blow open a 31-17 lead. That run was keyed by strong post presence with ECU dealing with a little foul trouble with Amiya Joyner and both Wyche twins on the bench.

East Carolina responded, throwing on a 12-0 run, including a pair of three-point baskets from Bobbi Smith, to cut the margin to just two. Seton Hall would get the last two baskets, a two and a three, to take a 36-29 lead into the halftime break. Danae McNeal led all scorers with 11 points at the intermission along with a pair of steals and some otherwise disruptive defense.

The third quarter of the ballgame was a battle. Both teams made runs which looked to either put the game away for Seton Hall or get back into it for ECU. All told, Seton Hall won the period 15-13 to extend their seven-point margin to nine entering the fourth. They did so thanks in part to a 6-0 burst over the final two minutes of the quarter, which came just as ECU seemed to be swinging the momentum in their favor.

It was going to take a big offensive effort in the fourth quarter to move into a position to win the game, but East Carolina just couldn't find it. Seton Hall made open shots and ECU couldn't find enough of them. The nail in the coffin, perhaps, was a sequence with 3:33 remaining in the contest when, with ECU trailing by nine, Joyner committed a foul, then was charged with a technical foul, allowing Seton Hall to extend their lead to 12 points with no time coming off the clock.

Whether it was exhaustion from working back into the game or simply the strong play of their opponent, the team made it close time and time again but were never able to get over the hump throughout the game as Seton Hall managed their lead to hold on for the victory.

Up Next
The Pirates return home on Nov. 29 for Education Day as they host Hampton for an 11 a.m. tip. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.