Samuels Leads The Way As The Hall Tops Creighton

Friday, January 11

South Orange, N.J.

11 a.m.

Seton Hall University

Creighton

Seton Hall

1/11/2019 3:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall women's basketball team (10-5, 2-2 BIG EAST) bounced back from a tough road trip in emphatic fashion, leading wire-to-wire in an 82-75 triumph over Creighton (8-8, 2-3 BIG EAST) on Friday morning at Walsh Gym. The Hall welcomed nearly 900 local students to Walsh for Kids Day presented by American Dairy and entertained a crowd of 1,473 with a win.

The trio of Inja Butina (Zagreb, Croatia), Nicole Jimenez (Miami, Fla.) and Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.) combined for 70 of The Hall's 82 points in the victory. Making an especially strong statement in the win was Samuels. Matched up against BIG EAST-leading scorer Audrey Faber, Samuels exploded for a career-high 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while holding Faber to single digits until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Butina also tied her career-high with 21 points on a crisp 8-of-11 shooting day, while Jimenez did a little bit of everything with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

After her career day, @ShadeenS stopped by the @BIGEASTdigital table and shared her thoughts on the win with our friend @OliviaMulvihill!#HALLin | #HALLdrip pic.twitter.com/7VCf4bHvmo
— Seton Hall WBB (@SHUWBB) January 11, 2019

The Hall never trailed in the contest, hitting 3-pointers on its first two possessions to set the tone quickly. The Pirates took a 10-point lead to the half and was able to hold off a fourth-quarter Creighton charge. For the Bluejays, Jaylyn Agnew led the way with 26 points and Temi Carda added 17.

Head Coach Anthony Bozzella on the result:
"I really thought Selena [Philoxy] set the tone for us early with her amazing energy and rebounding. It's tough to get wins in this league and I'm really proud of the girls for fighting until the end and holding off a really good Creighton team."

Turning Points
The Pirates took a 14-10 lead after a quarter and stretched their lead to double-digits for the first time at the end of the second frame. A Creighton 3-pointer cut The Hall's lead to 29-26 with 2:56 to go in the opening half, but a quick 7-0 spurt for The Hall capped by a Samuels 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 10. Butina would cap the second quarter with a pull-up jumper that sent SHU to the break leading 38-28.

Samuels opened the third quarter with five-straight points to give The Hall its largest lead of the day at 43-28, but the Bluejays battled back and cut the lead to seven heading to the fourth. After a Samuels bucket with 6:23 to play gave The Hall a 67-60 lead, the Bluejays managed to pull even at 67-67 by way an Agnew 3-pointer with 5:13 to go.

The Pirates dug in and answered, holding CU scoreless over the next nearly four minutes of game time and using a 9-0 run to swell the lead right back up to 76-67. Butina totaled four points during the decisive run and Samuels tied a career-high with her fourth 3-pointer to help put the game away.

#HALLdrip never trailed today, but Creighton did tie the game in the fourth quarter.

How did we answer? Take a look. #HALLin pic.twitter.com/ZRPjAO9BY0
— Seton Hall WBB (@SHUWBB) January 11, 2019

Inside The Numbers

Overall for the day the Pirates shot 50.0 percent (33-of-66) from the floor, while holding CU to a 41.3 percent (26-of-63)
- From 3-point range the Bluejays fared better with a 40.0 percent (14-35) marking versus a 26.9 percent (7-of-26) for the Pirates
- In the decisive fourth quarter the Pirates shot 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from the field
The Hall finished with a dominant 43-30 edge on the glass, led by 11 boards for Samuels and 10 from Philoxy
The Pirates finished with 18 assists, getting five from Jimenez and four from Butina
Seton Hall out-scored Creighton 46-22 in the paint and 20-8 on the fast break
The Hall limited CU to six offensive rebounds and out-scored the Bluejays 8-4 in second chance points

News and Notes

The Pirates improve to 4-8 all-time against Creighton and 2-4 in the series at Walsh Gym
The Hall is now 8-0 this season at home and 73-21 in South Orange under Bozzella
Samuels became the second Pirate this season with a 30-point game, joining Jimenez (33 vs. Saint Peter's on Dec. 2)
- The junior shot an efficient 13-of-23 from the floor and was 4-of-9 from 3-point range, tying her career-high for trifectas in a game set earlier this season
- Samuels notched her fifth double-double and fourth "20 and 10" game of the season
The Hall saw two players score at least 20 in a game for the first time since Jan. 12, 2018
Philoxy came into play leading the league in rebounding during conference action and has now grabbed double-digit caroms in three of four BIG EAST games
Senior captain Kaity Healy (Freehold, N.J.) got her second start of the season and was 2-of-3 from 3-point range – she leads the Pirates with a 41.5 percent mark beyond the arc this season
Butina's 21 points came in 26 minutes off the bench, marking the highest point total for a Seton Hall reserve in a game this season
With three steals on Friday, Jimenez now has an even 50 swipes this season through 15 games