We’re All We Need: The Story of 2022-23 ECU Women’s Basketball
May 24, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Part Three: Tournament Time and a Dream Realized
There are no proper words to describe the moment a championship game ends and your team has won. It's surreal. The faces of the players and coaches and staff. The pride, the joy, the tears.
Tears! This time of joy. A mystical third kind of tears which comes along only seldom.
After the Pirates were picked 11th in October, there weren't so many pundits expecting ECU to be the team getting that moment. History wasn't on their side either – it had been 16 years, after all, without a whole lot recently to inspire confidence… History can be wrong.
History Unlearned
At the end of 2021-22, the East Carolina women's basketball team took a trip to Memphis to close the regular season. Despite leading by seven at half, the Pirates dropped the contest. It was a three-point loss in a game the team had a chance to win.
They didn't have to wait long to get it back as they were slated to face the Tigers again just days later in the first round of the AAC Tournament. It was a chance at revenge and a chance to do what the team hadn't done in a while: advance in the conference tournament.
Instead, the Pirates came out flat. They were down 11 points after just a quarter and never made a charge back into it. The team mustered 48 points in a double-digit loss to slam the door shut on a disappointing season.
Tears! This time of joy. A mystical third kind of tears which comes along only seldom.
After the Pirates were picked 11th in October, there weren't so many pundits expecting ECU to be the team getting that moment. History wasn't on their side either – it had been 16 years, after all, without a whole lot recently to inspire confidence… History can be wrong.
History Unlearned
At the end of 2021-22, the East Carolina women's basketball team took a trip to Memphis to close the regular season. Despite leading by seven at half, the Pirates dropped the contest. It was a three-point loss in a game the team had a chance to win.
They didn't have to wait long to get it back as they were slated to face the Tigers again just days later in the first round of the AAC Tournament. It was a chance at revenge and a chance to do what the team hadn't done in a while: advance in the conference tournament.
Instead, the Pirates came out flat. They were down 11 points after just a quarter and never made a charge back into it. The team mustered 48 points in a double-digit loss to slam the door shut on a disappointing season.
•••
History unlearned is doomed to repeat itself. It sure seemed that way after the 2022-23 ECU squad dropped a disappointing road loss at Tulane then drew a date with the Green Wave in the AAC Tournament opener. There were a lot of players who were on both teams. The scars of the past could have doomed the hopes of the future – but this squad was different.
Micah Dennis wasn't in Fort Worth in 2022. She was in 2023 and dropped 17 points on Tulane. Synia Johnson put up a career-high 16 points. Synia was just awesome in that game.
Synia set the tone for the team, playing hard-nosed basketball for the full 94 feet and looking at times like the only player who truly wanted to be on the court. She looked the part of a Team Captain. Not that she hadn't throughout the season, but the results finally showed on the court.
•••
One thing that Coach Kim has said repeatedly about Amiya Joyner is that one of her gifts is that she doesn't feel the big moment. She just doesn't know – she just plays ball.
She had 19 rebounds in the first round of the AAC Tournament – a tournament record. Asked about it postgame she told a reporter, "I couldn't score the ball for my team, so I had to help with something else."
So, naturally MyMy went and grabbed 19 boards. Because of course she did. MyMy just loves basketball. Talent beyond her years in a moment beyond her worry.
The Pirates led the game almost from the jump. It was never a blowout, but ECU was never really in danger – they were too determined. This team would not lose that game.
Tulane took a very brief lead in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough. The Pirates put on a tear and stretched their own lead out to 14 with under a minute left.
Notably, it wasn't one player's individual magic. It was a team effort – defense to offense, pushing the Green Wave to their limits and putting the game away. Tulane couldn't keep up. It was the kind of run that teams used to put on the Pirates. Not anymore. ECU wins, 69-58. The same margin as 2022 – sides flipped.
•••
Oh yeah, and something strange happened before the semifinal round. South Florida lost. They were, as they had been all season, the prohibitive favorite to win the whole thing. They would make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large, but March was mad and the Wichita State Shockers had stunned the Bulls.
I don't think it was necessarily that teams didn't think they could beat South Florida. But everyone knew it would be hard... Really hard. All at once a door was open. Ears perked up. A trophy was up for grabs. The intensity ratcheted up.
Rubber Match
By virtue of their win over SMU, Memphis had earned the two seed. After splitting road and road in the regular season, why not meet again at a neutral site in Texas? With a trip to the title game on the line, no less.
The game on paper was perhaps the best of the tournament to that point. Two good teams who had played two good games in the regular season duking it out with high stakes. Forget what happened a year ago, what happened a couple weeks ago mattered enough to get everyone fired up.
On the court the game followed a similar script to the contest of the night before. The Pirates jumped out to a lead, Memphis battled back, but the Pirates never folded. In fact, as close as the game was at times, ECU led for 37 minutes and 33 seconds of game time.
Micah and Synia had strong performances again with 17 and 13, while Danae had her best scoring game of the tournament with 22 points. It was a well-rounded effort for the Pirates – a complete team game.
The key moment came with five minutes to play. A three-point game at the time, the Pirates needed a spark. It was a moment in the game where the player wearing No. 1 had hit big shots several times on the season. She delivered again.
At 53-50 with five to play, Micah stepped up and drilled a three. It made it a six-point game, breaking open what had been a back-and-forth fourth quarter and giving the team the space and confidence, they needed to push the margin further.
Ticket punched to play on Thursday night. It was elation. In the locker room a rowdy chorus told anyone in earshot "we're going to the 'ship!"
The Pirates needed just one more game, for all the marbles. A miracle run and a dream.
Who Will Make the Extraordinary Play?
Excuse my indulgence for a moment in explaining a piece of the work of an SID. I have a notebook that I carry with me for every game. In it I write notes about the game, key stats, key moments. Things to help myself later.
As the season went and the team won more, I made it a habit to write what I thought were the keys to the game for the Pirates. Things that might be the edge in getting the team over the finish line.
Before the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final I wrote the same line at the top of my notes: Who will make the extraordinary play?
Anyone who has watched a lot of basketball can tell you: in any championship, to win any trophy, someone has to make an extraordinary play – an extraordinary effort.
The Pirates had gotten those extraordinary plays so far. Synia stepping up against Tulane; Micah's three against Memphis. That kind of thing. Something great. Something championship worthy. The kind of effort taken from the notes of Micah's dive to the floor at SMU. It doesn't always win you the game, but you don't win without it.
Against Houston, in my mind, there were two. Both need context.
•••
Amiya Joyner is, for all her greatness, young. She gets emotional. It's the elephant in the room that folks like to harp on a bit too much sometimes. Yes, MyMy plays with a lot of emotion, she got a few techs this season. She deserved most of them. It happens.
Her emotion can also be a superpower. Say what you will, MyMy wants to win. Sometimes her desire to win gets the best of her.
Synia Johnson is a Team Captain. Never destined to be a volume scorer or highlight maker, Synia does the dirty work. She leads by example with her play and does the little things right to help ECU win (which is why, by the way, it was so poetic for her to earn Most Outstanding Player honors that night).
Synia also has a gift. When MyMy gets frustrated, Synia has a special ability to calm her down. Synia, generally, has this quality. More often than not she's the calmest person in the room and has an attitude that can't help but make you feel better about things.
With under two minutes left in the AAC Championship Game, the ball went out of bounds and was ruled to have gone off of MyMy. MyMy, as one does, got frustrated. She wanted to win and she wanted to win now, a gift. She didn't understand that even with Houston getting the ball, the Pirates still had a chance to get a stop and make a play to win the game, a curse? No. Enter Synia.
"I would say we have a very emotional team, including myself, at times and we're very hard on ourselves," said Synia. "Someone has to be that person to gather each other and say 'we're okay,' because if everyone gets down it just drags on the whole game or whole practice… In that moment in the Championship Game… we knew we had worked really hard and we weren't going to let one little thing dictate the rest of the game."
On the broadcast you can hear Dan Hughes and Tiffany Greene point out the moment of leadership. A moment of a captain showing why she's a captain. You can see MyMy calm down in real time and ready herself for the next play. And it's a good thing…
Off of the ensuing Morgan Moseley block and rebound, MyMy saw an opportunity. She opened up her stride with her 6-2 frame, long legs dashing past the too-slow Cougars running back down on defense and stretched out her hand. She wanted the ball.
Micah Dennis, an expert on the hit-ahead pass, dialed up a dime. She hit MyMy in stride and the freshman, somehow, finished off the glass while getting fouled. It was a miraculous shot.
Even better, it was a two-point game at the time and her free throw put the Pirates in front. Extraordinary play No. 1.
•••
The second extraordinary play came not long after. After the team's had exchanged misses, then a couple Micah free throws, then some missed free throws, a Houston bucket and a whole lot of chaos, the Cougars had the ball with 15 seconds left, down one.
It looked like the dream might be over for the Pirates. Laila Blair drove the lane and dished off to an open Bria Patterson. She had a great look. Five seconds left, for the Championship.
MyMy was in the post, stepped over to cover Blair, then as she passed the ball MyMy swung around and threw up a hand. She knew she needed to contest the shot – she knew the game was on the line. Remember, MyMy just wants to win. Asked earlier in the year about her individual accolades MyMy told the reporter that all she wanted was for the team to succeed.
She blocked the shot. She blocked the shot for the Championship.
A jump ball on the rebound gave it to ECU with 3.1 seconds left and after a Micah free throw, Houston's half court heave came up short and it was over.
Red, white and blue confetti shot in the air and a graphic went on the screen. It was their time. The confetti was falling for the Pirates and the graphic was Purple.
After a 16-year drought. After all of the hardship and tumult. After all of it.
Champions at last.
Forget that the Pirates had only scored two points in the first quarter. Forget that they trailed by double digits for a long time in the game. They would not be denied.
Yes, it was 11-2 after 10 minutes, but Houston only scored 11. The Pirate defense was too good. They just needed a chance, and they gave it to themselves.
The Stories We Forget
The story about MyMy and Synia is true. It was on TV – we can all go back and watch it. It was fantastic. That's the story we'll remember in 10 or 20 years, but there's another story that absolutely should be told.
It's the story of a player who lost her job, lost her playing time, then hung tough, and made a contribution. It's the story of the other extraordinary effort in the game – how Alexsia Rose saved the dream and gave the Pirates life when no one else could.
It happened twice, really. The second is more significant.
The first came in the second quarter. The game was at risk of getting out of hand when Alexsia came in, hit a jumper, stole the ball and scored on the fast break. One quick sequence which woke the team up a little.
But Houston punched back after that, and the deficit swelled again.
The second came in the third quarter. It was put-up-or-shut-up time for the Pirates – a nine-point game when Alexsia came in.
Not long after, she made a steal and an assist to Iycez to cut it to five. Then the player who, before that week, hadn't knocked down a triple since Nov. 26 when she hit three of them against Liberty, stepped into one with confidence on a second chance and drilled it. Two-point game. Game On.
There is no title without those plays. Alexsia wasn't All-AAC or All-Tournament. She wasn't the starter after January, but she stuck with her team, and it paid off.
A Special Moment
At shootaround on the morning of the Championship Game, Coach Kim gathered her team for her usual pregame talk. She's normally good at those – she's a heck of a motivator – but that one was special. That one was cold chills on your arms and the hair standing up on your neck.
She told her team that they were hours away from something special.
She pointed at the members of the staff and the few members of the team who knew the feeling and then she explained it to her young Pirate bunch. She explained the magic of seeing your name pop on the screen of the Selection Show. She explained the magic of playing in the NCAA Tournament – the history of it. She explained how it feels to have the confetti rain down on you and to hoist a trophy you earned.
She explained a special moment and how badly she wanted it for that team.
A lifetime of experiences – of memories.
We'll never forget this team. They'll never forget that feeling.
Hang a banner in Minges.
Champions are Forever.
We're All We Got. We're All We Need.
It looked like the dream might be over for the Pirates. Laila Blair drove the lane and dished off to an open Bria Patterson. She had a great look. Five seconds left, for the Championship.
MyMy was in the post, stepped over to cover Blair, then as she passed the ball MyMy swung around and threw up a hand. She knew she needed to contest the shot – she knew the game was on the line. Remember, MyMy just wants to win. Asked earlier in the year about her individual accolades MyMy told the reporter that all she wanted was for the team to succeed.
She blocked the shot. She blocked the shot for the Championship.
A jump ball on the rebound gave it to ECU with 3.1 seconds left and after a Micah free throw, Houston's half court heave came up short and it was over.
Red, white and blue confetti shot in the air and a graphic went on the screen. It was their time. The confetti was falling for the Pirates and the graphic was Purple.
After a 16-year drought. After all of the hardship and tumult. After all of it.
Champions at last.
•••
Forget that the Pirates had only scored two points in the first quarter. Forget that they trailed by double digits for a long time in the game. They would not be denied.
Yes, it was 11-2 after 10 minutes, but Houston only scored 11. The Pirate defense was too good. They just needed a chance, and they gave it to themselves.
The Stories We Forget
The story about MyMy and Synia is true. It was on TV – we can all go back and watch it. It was fantastic. That's the story we'll remember in 10 or 20 years, but there's another story that absolutely should be told.
It's the story of a player who lost her job, lost her playing time, then hung tough, and made a contribution. It's the story of the other extraordinary effort in the game – how Alexsia Rose saved the dream and gave the Pirates life when no one else could.
It happened twice, really. The second is more significant.
The first came in the second quarter. The game was at risk of getting out of hand when Alexsia came in, hit a jumper, stole the ball and scored on the fast break. One quick sequence which woke the team up a little.
But Houston punched back after that, and the deficit swelled again.
The second came in the third quarter. It was put-up-or-shut-up time for the Pirates – a nine-point game when Alexsia came in.
Not long after, she made a steal and an assist to Iycez to cut it to five. Then the player who, before that week, hadn't knocked down a triple since Nov. 26 when she hit three of them against Liberty, stepped into one with confidence on a second chance and drilled it. Two-point game. Game On.
There is no title without those plays. Alexsia wasn't All-AAC or All-Tournament. She wasn't the starter after January, but she stuck with her team, and it paid off.
A Special Moment
At shootaround on the morning of the Championship Game, Coach Kim gathered her team for her usual pregame talk. She's normally good at those – she's a heck of a motivator – but that one was special. That one was cold chills on your arms and the hair standing up on your neck.
She told her team that they were hours away from something special.
She pointed at the members of the staff and the few members of the team who knew the feeling and then she explained it to her young Pirate bunch. She explained the magic of seeing your name pop on the screen of the Selection Show. She explained the magic of playing in the NCAA Tournament – the history of it. She explained how it feels to have the confetti rain down on you and to hoist a trophy you earned.
She explained a special moment and how badly she wanted it for that team.
A lifetime of experiences – of memories.
We'll never forget this team. They'll never forget that feeling.
Hang a banner in Minges.
Champions are Forever.
We're All We Got. We're All We Need.
Thank you for following along.
###
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard/Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
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