Pirates’ Tournament Run Comes Up Short in Title Game Against Rice, 61-41

Wednesday, March 13

Fort Worth, Texas

7 PM ET

East Carolina University

19-14,9-9AAC

Rice

19-14,9-9AAC

Rice

East Carolina

Pirates’ Tournament Run Comes Up Short in Title Game Against Rice, 61-41

March 13, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas – The East Carolina women's basketball team saw its brilliant run to the American Athletic Conference Championship Game fall short on Wednesday night, falling to the Rice Owls, 61-41. Danae McNeal was the lone Pirate in double figures with her 14 points while adding a pair of blocks and two signature steals.

Rice (19-14, 9-9 AAC) threw the first punch and made it a big one, taking an 18-3 lead after a quarter of play and never looking back. Despite the tired legs of playing their fourth game in four days, the Owls shot a stunning 10-18 from three-point range to pull away in the game.

Malia Fisher was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player and deservingly so. Fisher finished with 13 points and eight rebounds on Wednesday as three Rice players scored in double figures (Ngulefac with 15 and Klaczek with 14).

The Pirates (19-14, 9-9 AAC) trailed by as many as 21 points in the game but did manage to come back and make it interesting for a short spurt, cutting the deficit to just nine with 4:40 to play before Rice knocked in another three and went on to pull away for a comfortable victory.

Despite the loss, the Pirates had a remarkable run in the tournament and on the season and reached many major milestones. Those include:

Danae McNeal and Tatyana Wyche were named to the All-Tournament team.
Wyche broke the AAC Tournament record with 13 blocks, besting Breanna Stewart's 10 which she set twice.
Wyche finished the season with 51 blocks, tied for seventh in ECU history.
McNeal scored 684 points, second most in a season in ECU history.
McNeal reached 1,385 points in just over two seasons with the Pirates, good for ninth in program history.
McNeal reached 107 steals on the season and 228 in her ECU career, fifth and sixth in program history, respectively.
McNeal wound up with a .790 career free throw percentage, third in ECU history.
Amiya Joyner finished the season with 309 rebounds, third in ECU history.
Joyner finishes the season at 98 career blocks, two away from becoming the sixth player in ECU history with 100.
Joyner finished the year with 47 blocks on the season, tied for 10^th in ECU history.
Karina Gordon ended up with 48 made threes on the year, third in ECU history by a freshman.
The team finished with 175 blocks, second in program history.
The team finished with 350 steals, sixth in program history.
The team forced 696 turnovers, seventh most in program history.
The team shot .713 from the foul line, second in program history. The team also made 464 free throws, sixth in program history.
Last, the team reached a conference final in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1990-91 and 1991-92.