Pirates Fall Late To Villanova On Friday Night

Friday, January 25

South Orange, N.J.

7 p.m.

Seton Hall University

Villanova

Seton Hall

1/25/2019 10:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Despite huge nights from Inja Butina (Zagreb, Croatia) and Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.), the Seton Hall women's basketball team (12-7, 4-4 BIG EAST) dropped a heartbreaker to Villanova (12-7, 3-5 BIG EAST) by a score of 70-66 on Friday night at Walsh Gymnasium. The Wildcats used an 11-0 fourth quarter run and out-scored the Pirates 25-15 in the final frame to come back in the win.

Butina finished with career-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds in defeat, while Samuels doubled up with 27 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. The Hall led by as many as 10 early in the second half and was up five with five minutes to go before the Wildcats made their late push.

Turning Point
The Hall opened its lead up to 54-45 early in the fourth quarter, but a VU 3-pointer cut the advantage to a single possession at 56-53 with 5:42 to go. Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) connected on a mid-range jumper on the next trip to push the lead back to five, where it stayed until Villanova made its run. From 4:04 to 1:09 in the final frame the Wildcats reeled off an 11-0 run that included 10 points from Mary Gedaka and took a 64-58 lead.

Butina finally snapped the run with a pair of free throws, then hit two more at the line to get the Pirates within a possession at 65-62. VU scored on the next trip, but The Hall responded with an offensive put-back from Elmore that drew contact. Elmore missed the and-one free throw, but Samuels tipped out the offensive rebound and knocked down a pair of free throws later in the possession to get back within one.

The Wildcats then hit one of two at the line to take a 68-66 lead with 21.1 seconds to play. The Hall had a series of looks at a game-tying basket on their final trip but could not convert and eventually lost the ball with 3.2 seconds to go. Gedaka then connected on two free throws with less than a second to play to seal the comeback.

Inside The Numbers

The Pirates couldn't find their 3-point stroke, going 3-of-20 from deep versus a 10-of-28 mark for the Wildcats
Overall on the day The Hall shot 36.4 percent from the floor and saw VU shoot 47.2 percent
The setback came despite a 49-27 edge on the glass for The Hall, led by Samuels' 16 caroms and eight rebounds apiece for Butina and Selena Philoxy (Queens, N.Y.)
The Pirates were -5 in turnover margin and had a season-low two steals
The Hall finished with a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint, an 18-3 edge in second chance points and a 19-5 margin in fast break points
The contest featured six ties and three lead changes
The Pirates assisted on 12 of 24 field goals, getting four helpers each from Butina and Samuels

News and Notes

The Hall falls to 22-42 all-time against Villanova
The loss was the first of the year at Walsh Gym, snapping a nine-game home winning streak
Samuels' double-double was her seventh of the season and her fifth "20 and 10" game
The 22-point outing for Butina was her third career game of 20 points or more
Elmore was the third Pirate in double figures with 10 points

What's Ahead
The Hall continues its season-long four-game home stand on Sunday afternoon when it plays host to Georgetown for a 1 p.m. tip.