McNeal Career Day Fuels Pirates in Thriller Over SMU, 68-61

Saturday, January 20

Greenville, N.C.

2 PM

East Carolina University

10-7,3-3AAC

SMU

8-10,2-5AAC

SMU

East Carolina

McNeal Career Day Fuels Pirates in Thriller Over SMU, 68-61

January 20, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Danae McNeal scored a career high 35 points and made all 15 of her attempts from the free throw line as the East Carolina women's basketball team surged late to down SMU, 68-61, on Saturday in Minges Coliseum. McNeal and the Pirates compiled a 50-percent clip from three and made 80 percent of their free throws en route to their third conference win.

The Pirates (10-7, 3-3 AAC) jumped out to an early 10 point lead in the game as Morgan Moseley came out of the gates with fire on her fingertips, making two first-quarter three balls to lead the Pirates to a 16-6 first quarter lead. SMU (8-10, 2-5 AAC), responded in kind, making a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game after 10 minutes of action. It would be the longest run for the Mustangs in the game, however, as ECU responded to take a three-point edge into the break and held the edge for 29:18 of game time on the day.

It was a low scoring game in a return to tradition for the Pirates as both teams turned the ball over 25 times with 14 steals per side. Karina Gordon had six of those steals on her own with five of them coming in the first half alone - part of the reason the Pirates would take that lead into the halftime break.

After the 10-0 run early, the third quarter was SMU's best stretch of the game. They took the period, 19-11, to take the lead into the third quarter; but the Pirates never seemed out of it like they had at times during their three-game skid. Instead, the Pirates looked calm and composed and came into the fourth quarter looking like a team that simply would not be denied the win.

Leading that charge was McNeal, who became the 25th player in program history to score 1,000 points in a Pirate uniform on Saturday. The graduate guard scored 17 points in the fourth quarter alone, shooting 11-11 from the foul line thanks to not only SMU's late fouls, but her earlier attacking play.

A prime example of the kinds of plays that propelled the Pirates to the win was this one with under 8:00 remaining. A full team effort with bodies hitting the floor and McNeal eventually finishing a massive and-one.

Just an unreal sequence for the Pirates 🤯#GoPirates🏴‍☠️ pic.twitter.com/f1nt1nSR1A
— East Carolina Women's Basketball (@ECUWBB) January 20, 2024

McNeal also eventually scored the game-winning bucket, a slashing score assisted by Amiya Joyner with 1:34 remaining in the game. From there, the Pirates held serve defensively with Bobbi Smith contributing a huge rebound and Tatyana Wyche a crucial steal with under a minute to play. The constant down that final stretch: McNeal being absolutely money from the charity stripe.

Her final total of 15-15 is a new program record for most free throws without a miss in a single game. The previous record, held by ECU Hall of Famer Gaynor O'Donnell at 14-14, had stood since Feb. 15, 1992.

Up Next
The Pirates travel to Boca Raton, Fla. for a date with the Florida Atlantic Owls on Thursday at 5 p.m. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.