Women's Hoops Hosts Butler on Saturday at Noon
1/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2014
SETON HALL (9-3, 0-1) vs. BUTLER (6-7, 1-1)
South Orange, N.J. (Walsh Gymnasium) • Saturday, Jan. 4 • 12:00 PM
Webcast: www.shupirates.com (Play-by-play: Jon Schaeffer)
Radio: 89.5 FM WSOU (Play-by-play: Brendan Borthwick; Color: Hill Boyce)
Seton Hall Game Notes
| Butler Game Notes | | Live Video
With non-conference play in the rear-view mirror the Seton Hall University women's basketball team resumes BIG EAST action when it hosts Butler University on Saturday, Jan. 4, in Walsh Gymnasium at 12 p.m. This is Butler's first year as a member of the BIG EAST Conference it this will be the first-ever meeting between Seton Hall and the Bulldogs. Butler will represent the seventh first-time opponent for the Pirates this season.
SETON HALL STATUS
Seton Hall bounced back from its loss in the BIG EAST opener at St. John's by picking up an 80-65 victory over Stony Brook at home on New Year's Eve. The Pirates were balanced in the win over Stony Brook with four players scoring in double figures. Junior Alexis Brown and senior Janee Johnson both recorded new career-highs in the win. Brown finished with 18 points and five assists while Johnson scored 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field.
BUTLER STATUS
Butler enters Saturday's contest with a 6-7 overall mark and a 1-1 record in conference play, most recently picking up a 68-65 victory at Providence on Wednesday afternoon for the first BIG EAST win in program history. The Bulldogs have three starters averaging double figures in scoring in Daress McClung (14.5), Liz Stratman (14.0) and Taylor Schippers (12.6). Butler has four players with at least 20 assists and ranks third in the conference with 16.0 assists per game. The Bulldogs struggle on the glass with a -0.5 rebounding margin and rank ninth in offensive rebounding.
SHU ALL-TIME IN BIG EAST HOME OPENERS
Seton Hall is 13-18 all-time in its first BIG EAST home game of the season. The Pirates snapped a four-game losing streak in conference home openers last season with a 69-56 victory over Pittsburgh in Walsh Gym on Jan. 2, 2013.
PERFECT NON-CONFERENCE
With its 80-65 win over Stony Brook on Dec. 31, Seton Hall wrapped up non-conference play with a perfect 9-0 record in Walsh Gym. This marks the first time Seton Hall wrapped up its non-conference schedule without a blemish on its home record since the 2008-09 season. That year the Pirates went 8-0 at home against non-BIG EAST foes.
HISTORIC HOME STREAK
Seton Hall has won 11-straight games in Walsh Gymnasium and is in the midst of the second-longest home winning streak in program history. The Pirates are 9-0 on their home floor this year and dating back to the victories over Providence and St. John's at the end of last season the Pirates have won 11 in row at home. Seton Hall's only other 10-game home winning streak actually came during a program best 20-game stretch from Jan. 3 1993 to Jan. 11, 1995.
CAREER BESTS FOR BROWN/JOHNSON
Junior Alexis Brown and senior Janee Johnson each recorded career-best offensive days in the win over Stony Brook on Dec. 31. Brown scored a game-high 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting with five assists in the win. Johnson shot 7-for-9 from the field, finishing with 16 points and four rebounds against the Seawolves.
HELPING HAND
Point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons has benefited in the three games since Alexis Brown returned to the lineup providing an additional ball handler in the Pirates' back court. Over the past three games Simmons has dished out 16 assists with just five turnovers for an assist-turnover ratio of 3.2; above her season average of 1.9, which ranks fifth in the BIG EAST. Simmons has posted back-to-back games without a turnover, dishing out five assists in each of the last two games.
SECOND ASSIST
Junior guard Alexis Brown needed just three games to ascend to second on the team in assists with 16. Brown set a new career-high with seven assists in her first game back from injury against NJIT on Dec. 31. She is averaging 5.3 assists per game over her first three games of the season with a 2.0 assist-turnover ration. Brown Has led or tied for the team lead in assists in two of her first three games of the season.
COOK NABS ROOKIE ACCOLADES
Redshirt freshman forward Sidney Cook was named the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Rookie of the Week on Dec. 30, for the first time in her career. She is the first Pirate to receive the honor since Kandice Green on Feb. 9, 2009. Cook's recognition from the conference followed an 11 point, 14 rebound performance in her first-career BIG EAST game at St. John's on Dec. 28. It was the second double-double of the season for Cook and her sixth-straight game reaching double-digit rebounds.
