Samuels Scores 23, Pirates Roll Past UTSA

Sunday, November 11

South Orange, N.J.

1 p.m.

Seton Hall University

3-0

UTSA

1-2

Team	1	2	3	4	F
UTSA	13	10	10	20	53
Seton Hall	35	20	19	10	84

11/11/2018 6:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall women's basketball team (3-0) roared out to a huge early lead and never looked back, dominating UTSA (1-2) in an 84-53 victory on Sunday afternoon at historic Walsh Gymnasium. The contest marked the finale of the first Seton Hall Tip-Off Tournament.

Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.) led the big day for the Pirate offense with a game-high 23 points, needing only 18 minutes of action to set a new career-high in scoring. For her efforts, Samuels was named the Tip-Off Tournament MVP. The Pirates shared the ball beautifully in the win, recording 25 assists on their 31 made field goals.

How it Happened
The Hall wasted no time building an early lead, scoring on each of its first eight possessions to force two UTSA timeouts in the first seven minutes of action. The Pirates held leads of 16-4 and 25-10 when timeouts were called, and ended up taking a 35-13 lead after the first 10 minutes. Samuels scored 10 points in the opening frame and the Pirates assisted on 11 of their first 12 field goals.

The Hall would swell its lead to 55-23 at the half and was up 74-33 going into the fourth quarter, holding UTSA to only 20 combined points in the second and third periods.

Inside The Numbers

The Hall connected on 47.7 percent of its field goal attempts and held UTSA to a 30.6 mark
From 3-point range, The Pirates were 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) while the Roadrunners shot 2-for-18 (11.1 percent)
Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) and Femi Funeus (Plantation, Fla.) joined Samuels in double-figures with 12 points each
The Pirates finished with a 47-39 rebounding edge thanks to 11 from Selena Philoxy (Queens, N.Y.) and nine from Elmore
Victoria Cardaci (Holmdel, N.J.) had a team-high six of The Hall's 25 assists, with Inja Butina (Zagreb, Croatia) and Nicole Jimenez (Miami, Fla.) both adding four
The Pirate bench out-scored the Roadrunner reserves by a 48-13 margin
The Hall notched a season-highs in blocks with seven and added 13 steals
- Whitney Howell (Lake Worth, Fla.) notched three blocks and Jimenez led the way with four steals

News and Notes

The 25 assists recorded by the Pirates are the most in a game since matching that mark on Dec. 7, 2013 against UMass Lowell
Butina and Funeus joined Samuels on the Tip-Off All-Tournament Team
Samuels' career-high came on a 9-of-11 day from the floor and 2-for-4 effort from 3-point range
The Hall is now 2-0 all-time against UTSA and 46-8 in regular season tournament games at Walsh Gym
In three games this season, The Hall's bench is averaging 44.3 points per game
As a team the Pirates are averaging 93.7 points per game on the year and have assisted on 68.8 percent of their field goals
Prior to the game The Hall acknowledged UTSA assistant Elia Mukosiej, a member of the Pirates from 2006-08 and All-BIG EAST performer

What's Next
The Pirates are on the road for their next two contests, facing a pair of stiff tests in teams that reached the NCAA Tournament a season ago. First up is Princeton on Wednesday, Nov. 14 with tip-off set for 6 p.m.