Pirates Fall In Battle At Butler

Friday, January 4

Indianapolis, Ind.

7 p.m.

Seton Hall University

Butler

Seton Hall

Butler

1/4/2019 9:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Seton Hall women's basketball team (9-4, 1-1 BIG EAST) dropped a heartbreaker at Butler (13-1, 3-0 BIG EAST) by a score of 62-59 on Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Kaela Hilaire (Queens, N.Y.) finished with team-highs of 15 points and six assists in the hard-fought setback.

The Pirates trailed for over 36 minutes of game time, but fought until the end and took a late lead with 1:20 to play in the fourth quarter. Butler would go on to tie the game and then sink a pair of free throws with 17.6 to play before coming up with a block on The Hall's last offensive possession.

Hilaire was the lone Pirate to score in double-figures in an uncharacteristic offensive day for The Hall. Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.) narrowly missed a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds while Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) chipped in nine points off the bench. For Butler, Tori Shickel and Whitney Jennings led the way with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

How it Happened
After going scoreless through nearly the first five minutes of regulation, the Pirates battled back and managed to take a 13-12 lead after the opening quarter. Cold shooting from 3-point range then plagued the Pirates through most of the second quarter and The Hall went to the half down 32-29.

The Hall went down as many as six at 57-51 midway through the fourth, but pulled back within a possession when Samuels converted a three-point play with 3:54 to play. That kicked off an 8-0 Seton Hall run, with the next five points coming from Hilaire. After hitting a pull-up jumper to cut the BU lead to one, Hilaire connected on a three-point play of her own to give The Hall its first lead since the
start of the second quarter at 59-57 with 1:31 to play.

The Bulldogs would tie the game with two Shickel free throws on the next possession and then got a stop to take over with the contest tied and 44 seconds to go. The Pirates turned in a solid defensive possession until the waning seconds of the shot clock, when Jennings managed to draw contact in the act of shooting before sinking two free throws. Hilaire's attempt to tie the game back up in the final seconds was turned aside and BU snuck out the win.

Inside The Numbers

The Pirates finished 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) from the floor, and a very uncharacteristic 5-of-33 (15.2 percent) from 3-point range
- Coming into the game, The Hall was shooting 36.1 percent from 3-point range and averaging 9.8 makes per game
- Conversely, Butler shot 22-of-59 (37.3 percent) from the floor and 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from 3-point range
Butler held a 43-32 edge on the glass, but the Pirates still managed a 12-11 edge in second chance points
The Seton Hall bench out-scored the BU reserves by a margin of 32-7
The Pirates were +2 in turnover margin and notched a 22-11 advantage in points off miscues
The contest featured six lead changes and two ties
The Pirates held Butler without a field goal for the final 6:19 of regulation
Butler finished with a significant margin at the foul line, going 13-of-21 from the stripe while SHU finished 8-of-10

News and Notes

The Pirates are now 6-5 all-time against Butler and 2-4 at Hinkle Fieldhouse
The contest was a match-up between two of the three remaining undebaten teams in league play
Hilaire led the Pirates in scoring for the second time this season and recorded her 26th career double-digit scoring effort
Nicole Jimenez (Miami, Fla.) scored eight points and hit a pair of 3-pointers – she has knocked down a trifecta in every game this season and has nine instances of multiple treys

What's Next
The Hall concludes its two-game road swing on Sunday afternoon, visiting Cincinnati for a 2 p.m. tilt at Xavier.