East Carolina 78, Florida Atlantic 74
The East Carolina women's basketball team survived a late scare from the Florida Atlantic Owls, winning 78-74, on Thursday evening in Baldwin Arena. Danae McNeal led the Pirates with 32 points and four steals in the game as the team fended off the Owls' late comeback.
The Owls (5-13, 0-7 The American) took the first punch in the game, jumping out to an early six-point lead thanks in part to a healthy margin on the glass, including nine first-half offensive rebounds. Florida Atlantic also hit a trio of three-point shots in the first half to bolster their efforts early.
The Pirates (11-7, 4-3 The American) hung around though, flying back into the game with an 8-0 run over a stretch of 44 seconds in the second quarter to take the lead back at 19-17. The run was kicked off by a Karina Gordon triple dished out by Tatyana Wyche. It would be a common theme that the native Floridians on the team played a big role in the first half. Morgan Moseley capped the run with an and-one finish midway through the quarter.
Back to the Floridians for a moment, Wyche, a native of Ft. Lauderdale, put a play on her highlight reel in the first half as the stole the ball, and went coast-to-coast on a give-and-go with Khia Miller. Meanwhile, Gordon, native of Hallandale Beach, knocked down a second three not long after to give the Pirates a late lead in what turned into a back-and-forth affair in the first half. The Pirates did go into the break down by a point, 27-26.
Amiya Joyner then stepped to the plate and had one of the best starts to a half you can imagine. The Farmville native scored a gritty and-one on the opening possession, then a putback layup next time down. Joyner then swatted an Owl shot and on the ensuing offensive trip battled hard in the post for another second-chance score. A 7-0 run in 2:11 by No. 23 herself to put the Pirates back in front.
From there, the lead wavered between six and four before the Owls made the mistake of waking up Danae McNeal. The graduate guard dropped 17 points in the third quarter alone, including a three-point shot off of a massive Bobbi Smith offensive rebound with a minute to play in the quarter which gave the Pirates their first double-digit lead of the game.
Things got a little hairy in the fourth quarter for the Pirates as Florida Atlantic roared to life. With ECU leading by 15 with just over five minutes to play, the Owls used a pair of runs, 12-2 and 7-0 respectively, to battle their way back not only into the game, but to knot the score at 70 apiece on a Mya Perry triple with 1:08 remaining.
Aniya Hubbard was the catalyst for the run, scoring 12 of her 30 points in the final period to will her team back into the game. She and the Owls did the lion's share of their work at the charity stripe with Hubbard going 8-9 and a 13-19 clip for the team overall.
Tied at 70 it was gut-it-out time for the Pirates, and it was once again the Florida kids (and Morgan Moseley, more on her in a moment) who led the way.
After a defensive stand to prevent Florida Atlantic from going in front, Tatyana Wyche was fouled in the post, sinking both attempts with poise to set up the defensive possession of the game. That's where Moseley came in. The forward put her body on the line, taking a charge – the 51st of her career – on a hard drive by Perry.
After the Pirates called timeout to advance the ball, the coaches dialed up a perfect play: an inbounds by Taliyah Wyche to McNeal who was quickly and expectedly doubled in the corner, who was able to flip the ball over the double back to a wide-open Wyche for the lay-in. It was poetry in motion and put the Pirates in commanding position.
The Pirates forced another stop and Gordon stepped calmly to the line to swish home her seventh and eighth points of the game.
Florida Atlantic laid in two more buckets – one coming at the horn – and McNeal knocked down another pair of free throws, and the Pirates at escaped with win No. 11 and, more importantly, win No. 4 in American Athletic Conference play.
Notably, with 32 on the day, McNeal became the first Pirate to record four-or-more 30-point games in a season since Mary Denkler in 1982-83 and just the third overall (Rosie Thompson, 1978-79).
UAB 83, Wichita State 81
Denim DeShields'layup with 1.3 remaining in overtime lifted the UAB women's basketball team to an 83-81 victory over Wichita State on Thursday night at Charles Koch Arena.
The Blazers (15-4, 6-1 The American) had to come from behind in overtime as DeShields and Mia Moore combined for an 8-0 run to give the Blazers an 81-78 lead with :31 left. The Shockers' Ornella Niankan drilled a 3-pointer with 10 second left to tie the game at 81-81, but DeShields drove the length of the court and converted through contact for the game-winning basket.
DeShields had a team-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Moore had a monster double-double with 21 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. It was Moore's AAC-leading 10th double-double of the season. Tracey Bershers (14) and Maddie Walsh (12) also scored in double figures.
It was a tale of two halves as each team scored 27 points in the first half on 31 percent shooting, then each scored 45 points in the second half. The Shockers (6-14, 2-6 The American) ended the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to force overtime.
The Blazers trailed 15-12 after the first quarter but scored the first six points of the second to gain a 18-15 lead. The two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the second quarter with neither team gaining a lead larger than four points, and Ashton Elley's 3-pointer as time expired evened the score 27-27 at halftime.
After making just three triples in the first half, the Blazers came out of the locker room on fire, knocking down four early 3s in the third. However, Wichita State refused to back and led 51-50 after three.
With UAB leading 64-63, Elley and Bershers hit back-to-back threes, followed by a DeShields layup to increase the Blazers' lead to nine (72-63) with 2:15 left in the contest. However, WSU's Daniela Abies scored 19 of her 23 points in the second half to keep the Shockers in it, and Blow Salese's turnaround jumper with :1 left sent the game to OT.
The Blazers ultimately shot 37 percent for the game and made 19-of-24 at the line. UAB is now 2-0 in overtime this season.
The win sets up a first-place showdown at North Texas (16-3) on Sunday as both times are tied for first place in the America Conference at 6-1 overall.