Philoxy Has Career Day In Hard-Fought WNIT Setback

Thursday, March 21

Toledo, Ohio

7 p.m.

Seton Hall University

15-16

Toledo

21-11

Seton Hall

Toledo

3/21/2019 9:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

TOLEDO, Ohio – Despite a huge second half push, the Seton Hall women's basketball team (15-16) dropped a 71-65 decision at Toledo (21-11) on Thursday night at UT's Savage Arena. The contest was a first round match-up in the 2019 Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).

The Hall out-scored the Rockets 36-27 in the second half and got a 17-point deficit as close as four in the final 90 seconds of regulation. Selena Philoxy (Queens, N.Y.) led all scorers with a career-high 19 points, going 7-of-13 from the floor and grabbing seven rebounds. Seniors Nicole Jimenez (Miami, Fla.) and Victoria Cardaci (Holmdel, N.J.) also finished in double-figures in their final games in Pirate blue, adding 15 and 14 points, respectively.

All five Pirate starters played at least 30 minutes, including Inja Butina (Zagreb, Croatia) and Jimenez playing the full 40 minutes. The Pirates were without First Team All-BIG EAST performer Shadeen Samuels for the contest due to illness.

How it Happened
Down 15-9 late in the first quarter, the Pirates amped up their press defense and were able to rip off a 9-2 run to close the frame and go up 18-17 after a quarter. The Hall beat the opening period buzzer with a pretty feed from Butina to Philoxy for a lay-up that gave SHU its first lead of the contest.

The Rockets re-took the lead with an 8-0 run early in the second quarter before Jimenez knocked down a 3-pointer and The Hall called for time with 6:18 to go in the first half with the score 29-24. The Rockets rattled off nine straight after the stop to force another timeout and would go on to take a 44-29 lead to the half.

Philoxy scored back-to-back buckets early in the third quarter to cut the Toledo advantage back to single digits at 46-38. The teams traded blows for much of the third stanza, with the Pirates out-scoring the Rockets 21-16 in the third to go to the final frame down 60-50.

Both teams picked up the defensive intensity in the final frame, with only eight combined points before the media timeout came at 4:55 with the Pirates down 64-54. With a shade over two minutes to play, Cardaci and Jimenez knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers that cut the UT lead to four at 66-62. After a stop the Pirates got the ball back with 46.0 seconds to play, but a missed basket and Toledo press-break lay-up put the Rockets back up six with under 30 seconds to go. The Hall would be unable to get back within one possession the rest of the way.

Inside The Numbers

The Pirates shot 46.0 percent (23-50) from the floor and 42.9 percent (9-21) from 3-point range
Conversely, UT connected on a 47.5 percent clip (28-59) and a 30.0 percent (6-20) mark from deep
The Hall dished out 15 assists on 23 field goals (65.2 percent), led by seven helpers from Butina
Toledo finished with a slight 32-28 edge on the glass, as the Pirates got seven caroms apiece from Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) and Philoxy
The Pirates committed 16 turnovers and was -3 in turnover marigin, but saw the Rockets capitalize emphatically and out-score them 30-10 off miscues
The Rockets also held a 36-24 scoring edge in the paint and a 15-2 advantage in bench scoring

News and Notes

The Hall is now 4-6 all-time in WNIT play
The match-up was the first in the respective program histories for Seton Hall and Toledo
Philoxy has scored in double-figures in all five of her career postseason games (three BIG EAST Tournament and two WNIT), accounting for her five of her seven career double-digit games
- Philoxy is averaging 14.0 points per game in the postseason, up from her career scoring average of 4.6 per game
- The 19 points topped Philoxy's previous career-best mark of 14
Jimenez knocked down five 3-pointers, giving her 93 this season (second all-time) and 126 for her career (sixth in SHU history)
Jimenez also recorded a steal and finishes her season with 71, good for the 10th highest single-season total in Seton Hall history
The double-figure scoring effort for Cardaci was her seventh of the season as she went 4-of-7 from 3-point range and added three rebounds and two steals to her 14 points
The contest marked the final career game for seniors Butina, Cardaci, Kaity Healy (Freehold, N.J.) and Jimenez

The Pirates conclude the 2018-19 campaign record with a 15-16 record, reaching the postseason for the fifth time in six seasons under Anthony Bozzella.