Methodical Pirates Run Away from Charleston Southern, 81-56

Wednesday, November 6

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

1-0,0-0AAC

Charleston Southern

0-2,0-0Big South

Charleston So.

East Carolina

Methodical Pirates Run Away from Charleston Southern, 81-56

November 06, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina women's basketball team used a methodical effort to turn a four-point halftime lead into a 25-point victory over the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in their 2024-25 season opener on Wednesday evening in Minges Coliseum. Jayla Hearp poured in a career high 21 points and Taliyah Wyche registered her first career double-double in the win.

It was a story of four quarters of progress in the opener as the Pirates (1-0) scored more points — 13-19-23-26 — in each successive quarter to secure a blowout victory of their Big South foe. The Buccaneers (0-2) held strong, showing why they enter the season with high hopes on the heels of their most successful season in recent memory last year. They were bolstered by the play of their sensational do-it-all guard Catherine Alben who led the visitors with 14 points on the evening.

ECU did manage a lead through a quarter of play thanks to some excellent opening play by Wyche who contributed six points and four boards in the first 10 minutes of action. Traditionally stout defensively under Kim McNeill's vaunted system, the Pirates also held Charleston Southern to just 10 points in the opening frame, an accomplishment they matched again in the fourth quarter.

Speaking of defense, the Pirates forced 26 turnovers in the game, besting North Carolina's effort in CSU's opener in which the Tar Heels forced 21 Buccaneer turnovers. ECU managed 29 points off of those turnovers.

Coming off of the bench, Wyche was a revelation in the game, scoring 12 points and snagging 10 boards to at long last give herself a first career double-double. Her previous career best of nine rebounds had put her close and on Wednesday the senior finally broke through.

The biggest story of the day almost certainly is one of individual comebacks as the Pirates got two critical players back from injury in the form of Hearp and Synia Johnson.

Johnson was exquisite in the game in her new starting point guard role and perhaps a bit uncharacteristically did much of her work scoring the basketball — though she did also tally four steals and four assists — posting a near-career best of 15 points, just one off of her benchmark of 16 which she reached most recently on March 7, 2023 in an American Athletic Conference Tournament win over Tulane. Johnson famously went on to earn AAC Tournament Most Outstanding Players honors for her exploits that week as she led the Pirates to their first title since 2007.

In the present, though, it had been 321 since Johnson had taken the court for the Pirates and for the 987 fans in attendance it would've been hard to tell. She took the reins without missing a beat and her presence was a boon for an ECU squad looking for a veteran lift.

For her part, it had been even longer, 608 days, since Hearp had taken the court, going down in the 2023 AAC title game. It took her a quarter or so, frankly, to get into the groove. But when she did, the junior guard looked like the Jayla Hearp of old as she rained in 19 of her 21 points in the second half on a torrid 6-9 clip from the field and 6-8 from the charity stripe.

Hearp's outburst bests her career high of 18 scored against North Carolina A&T way back on Dec. 19, 2022. A freshman then, Hearp looked her veteran years on Wednesday, weathering the rough patches and pouncing when the opportunity presented as she went for a final line of 21 points, seven rebounds and four steals. All career highs.

Though Charleston Southern remained in the game down 32-28 at halftime, the Pirates came out of the break on a tear with a quick 8-0 run, which they then followed up with a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter, taking the game from 55-48 to 65-48 and not only taking from CSU but igniting a new energy in the wanting crowd of Pirate faithful.

Speaking of the crowd, 987 in attendance is an improvement of 295 from the season opener in 2023-24.

The crowd got one last chance for a noise pop towards the end of the game when in short order Jade Tillman swished her second career three-point make and Taliyah Wyche scored a tough second-chance basket.

Notables

Four Pirates scored in double figures with Khia Miller (10) joining Hearp, Johnson and Wyche.
The Pirates posted an impressive 36 points in the paint, 21 second chance points and 23 bench points.
The team shot 21-23 (91.3) from the foul line, their best clip on 20-or-more attempts since going 23-25 (92.0) from the charity stripe since Jan. 11, 2001.

Up Next
The Pirates hit the road for the first time on the season as they travel to Harrisonburg, Va. for a date with JMU on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.