Pirates Head To BIG EAST Tournament

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Postseason play has arrived for the Seton Hall women's basketball team (11-18) as The Hall heads to Wisconsin to take part in the 2017 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep. The eight-seed Pirates will take on nine-seed Providence (12-17) in a First Round match-up at 7:30 p.m. (ET) from Marquette's Al McGuire. The contest is set to air on the BIG EAST Digital Network with Patrick Reed, Kyle Dlabay and Megan O'Brien on the call as well on WSOU and 89.5 FM.

The Pirates and Friars split their regular seasons series, with The Hall taking a 55-43 victory at Walsh Gym on Jan. 20. The contest is a rematch of a 2014 BIG EAST First Round game, when the seven-seed Pirates came away with an 88-79 victory. The Pirates advanced to the BIG EAST Semifinals last season, one year after reaching the title game.

SETON HALL TIP-INS

The Hall opens play in the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday, playing in the First Round of the Championship for the first time since 2014
The Pirates are 4-3 in BIG EAST Tournament play under Anthony Bozzella and have won a game in the tournament in each of the last four seasons
Kaela Hilaire (Floral Park, N.Y.) was a unanimous selection to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team and leads all conference rookies in scoring, assists and steals
JaQuan Jackson is coming off 32 points in the regular season fianle and ranks third in the league in scoring
The Pirates lead the BIG EAST with 4.9 blocked shots and ranks second with 9.0 steals per game
Lubirdia Gordon (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) is the league leader in field goal percentage (60.8) and ranks top-10 in blocked shots (1.6, 3rd) and rebounding (6.3, 8th)

FRIAR FACTS

The Friars finished the regular season at 12-17 and 4-14 in BIG EAST play, tied with The Hall and Xavier for seventh in the league standings
Providence is shooting 38.0 percent from 3-point range, tops in the conference by a wide margin
PC is also in the league leaders in field goal percentage (42.3, 3rd) and free throw percentage (74.5, 2nd)
Jovana 'Yoyo' Nogic leads PC with 14.7 points per game and shoots 43.1 percent from 3-point range - earning her an All-Conference Honorable Mention nod
Sarah Beal also scores in double-figures with 12.8 ppg

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates closed the regular season with a hard-fought battle at St. John's, falling to the Red Storm by a score of 77-71

The back-and-forth contest featured 20 lead changes and nine ties, with neither side building an advantage greater than six throughout
The Hall was down one at the break, and pulled even with a JaQuan Jackson three-point play with 3:26 to go
The Red Storm answered the deadlock with a 6-0 spurt, now allowing The Hall to get closer than two the rest of the way
Jackson led all scorers with a career-high 32 points, most for a Pirate this season
Both teams shot it at a high clip, with the Pirates tying a season-best 50.0 percent mark while the Red Storm connected at 56.3 percent
The Hall knocked down 10-of-17 from 3-point range, including a combined 9-for-13 effort from Jackson and LaTecia Smith (13 points)

PROVIDENCE SERIES NOTES
The Hall is 34-29 all-time against the Friars

The two squads split this year's regular season series, each winning on their home floor
Under Bozzella the Pirates are 8-1 against the Friars
In two meetings with PC this season Jackson averaged 17.5 points, while Deja Winters (Richmond Heights, Ohio) scored 18 in the first meeting before missing the second
The Pirates and Friars have met in the BIG EAST Tournament four times, with The Hall holding a 3-1 record
The last tournament meeting came in the 2014 First Round, an 88-79 triumph for the No. 7 Pirates over the No. 10 Friars
Overall SHU is 5-2 against PC on neutral courts

TOURNAMENT TIME
The Hall is competing in the BIG EAST Tournament for the 32nd time since the 1982-83 season

Overall the Pirates are 21-32 in BIG EAST Tournament action
Under Bozzella and since realignment, The Hall is 4-3 in the tournament
The Pirates have won at least one game in the BIG EAST Tournament in each of the last four seasons
In 2015 The Hall reached the title game before following that up with a trip to the semifinals last season
Overall in First Round play, the Pirates are 10-12 including a win over PC in 2014 in their last first round game

WHAT'S NEXT
Should The Hall advance, the Pirates will face top-seed DePaul in a quarterfinal match-up on Sunday, March 5 at 7 p.m. (ET).