Danae McNeal: In League with Legends

Danae McNeal's career in Purple and Gold has come to an end, and with it turns a page in the modern era of East Carolina women's basketball. The sum of McNeal's accomplishments as a Pirate unavoidably falls well short of measuring her true impact on the program, its fans, her teammates or the sport.

But that's not going to stop me from trying. Here we go, Danae McNeal, by the numbers:

First, let's just look at the season we just finished. Danae was unbelievable this year. I was there for every minute of it, and I still can't believe some of the things I saw.

For starters, Danae scored 684 points this season. That's the second most points scored in a single season in program history and the most since the great Rosie Thompson poured in 723 points in 1978-79, 45 years ago. Rosie, by the way, was the owner of the lone retired number in program history (#10) – one of the legends in every sense. Danae's 684 points works out to 20.7 points per contest, which is good for fourth in a season in program history and the most since Mary Denkler-Schoof's 22.5 in 1982-83. Denkler-Schoof earned All-America honors that season – she is still the only player in program history to do so.

Danae wasn't always on pace for such a remarkable scoring season, she cranked her play to a different level in conference play. Namely, from Feb. 4 to March 5, she scored 20-or-more points in every game, a streak of nine-consecutive 20-point games. It was the longest such streak in program history – besting the previous record which was just six. She also scored more than 30 points five times on the year, the third most in program history behind only, surprisingly enough, Rosie and Mary who posted seven in 1978-79 and six in 1982-83, respectively. Her 35 points against SMU tied the 10^th most in a game program history. In that game, Danae also hit a perfect 15-15 from the charity stripe, a program record.

But Danae's not only a scorer – really, she had to score to dispel the notion that she was only a defender – she is now a two-time American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

She racked up 107 steals this season, fifth most in program history and making her just the fourth individual ever with 100 steals in a season at ECU. Lashonda Monk is the only other player in ECU history with two seasons of 95-plus steals. She had seven games with five-or-more steals this year, including snatching seven steals on three different occasions before finally breaking through with her 10-steal performance against Tulsa in the American Tournament.

Her 10 steals in a single game were good for second in program history and a single-game American Tournament record. It was her seventh game of the season with five-or-more steals and third of seven-plus. Danae also blocked a career-high 23 shots this season, third on the team despite her guard position.

For her efforts this season, Danae was tabbed one of just two unanimous First-Team All-Conference selections, American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and earned All-Tournament team recognition. She is just one of two players in AAC history to win DPOY twice and the second East Carolina player to do so in any league (both Lashonda Monk).

By any measure, Danae's 2023-24 season was one of the best seasons in ECU history, but now let's take a look at her career.

Due to injury, Danae only played two full seasons at ECU while making appearances in 15 more games during the 2021-22 season. Despite that shortened time in Purple and Gold, her career numbers are still stunning.

Finishing with 1,385 points in an ECU uniform, Danae ranks ninth in program history in total career points and because she did it in only 81 games, her scoring average of 17.1 places her even higher, fifth, in ECU history in points per game for a career.

Danae scored 1,259 of those 1,385 points over just the last two seasons. That total is the most by a Pirate since Rosie scored 1,308 points back in 1977-78 and 1978-79 – 45 years ago.

She scored 30-or-more points seven times in her career which is tied for fourth most in a career in program history. She also scored 20-plus a whopping 28 times in her career while scoring in double figures in 66 of her 81 games. She did so quite efficiently at times, shooting 79.0 percent from the foul line in her career, third best in ECU history. This, while getting to the charity stripe 362 times.

Defensively, Danae also finished her career with 228 total steals, sixth most in ECU history and winding up as one of just four players in program history with 1,000 points, 200 rebounds and 200 steals in a career. Of that group of Gaynor O'Donnell, Jasmine Young and Lashonda Monk, Danae scored the second most points and played significantly fewer games than the next closest player. Monk played 111 games in her four years in Greenville, still fully 30 games more than Danae.

Those numbers are remarkable and noteworthy, but it remains true that all accountings of Danae's accolades and statistics are still inadequate to the true measure of the kid from Swansea's impact on the East Carolina women's basketball program.

Danae ended her career a two-time team captain who helped guide the Pirates from and 11-win season in her first season to an NCAA Tournament appearance last year to the brink of another one despite an injury-plagued season for the Pirates this season.

The NCAA Tournament in 2023 was the first for ECU in 16 seasons and Danae, not one to rest on her laurels, absolutely willed the Pirates from a nine seed to the American Athletic Conference Championship Game for the second year in a row in 2024. She was phenomenal during the run and deserved all superlatives used to describe her efforts as in her final act in Purple and Gold she took the team to consecutive conference finals for the first time since 1991 and 1992 – well before Danae was even born.

Though No. 22 won't be trotting onto the court for the Pirates when they open the 2024-25 season, her impact will be felt by everyone in the building. Every teammate she played with. Every coach she played for. Every recruit who committed to this version of ECU Women's Basketball. And most importantly, every fan she drew in, awed, and kept coming to support the ladies and cheer on the Purple and Gold.

Players Mentioned

Danae McNeal

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