The Hall Drops BIG EAST Tournament Opener

Saturday, March 9

Chicago, Ill.

3 p.m.

Seton Hall University

15-15

St. John's

15-15

St. John's (NY)

Seton Hall

3/9/2019 5:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CHICAGO – The eight-seed Seton Hall women's basketball team (15-15) dropped its postseason opener on Saturday, falling to nine-seed St. John's by a score of 76-51 at Wintrust Arena. The contest was a first round match-up at the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament presented by Jeep.

Selena Philoxy (Queens, N.Y.) led the Pirates with 14 points, tying her career-high also set in conference tournament play a season ago. She was one of three in double-figures for The Hall along with Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.) and Inja Butina (Zagreb, Croatia). Samuels also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to notch a double-double.

How it Happened
After a back-and-forth first half, the Red Storm got hot from 3-point range late in the second quarter and took a 38-34 lead to the half. A 3-pointer from Nicole Jimenez (Miami, Fla.) got the deficit back down to four at 45-41 midway through the third quarter, but SJU answered with a 14-2 run to close the period and took a 59-43 lead after three frames.

The Pirates tried to rally in the fourth, but the double-digit deficit was too much to overcome as St. John's slowed the pace to maintain its advantage.

Inside The Numbers

The Red Storm shot a sterling 52.8 percent (28-53) from the floor and connected on a 52.9 percent clip (9-17) from 3-point range
Conversely, St. John's limited The Hall to 37.7 percent shooting (20-53) overall and 26.7 percent (4-15) from 3-point range
The Pirates were out-rebounded 33-31, getting a team-high 10 caroms from Samuels and six rebounds from Philoxy
The Hall was -7 in turnover margin and saw St. John's out-score it 16-6 off miscues
The contest featured 13 lead changes and six ties, all in the first half

News and Notes

The Pirates fall to 23-34 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play and 7-6 under Anthony Bozzella
The Hall was unable to pull off a three-game sweep of the Red Storm and are now 33-46 all-time against their longtime local rival
Philoxy has scored in double-figures in all three of her career BIG EAST Tournament games – signifying three of her six career double-figure scoring games
The double-double was Samuels' ninth of the season
Jimenez hit multiple 3-pointers in a game for the 24^th time in 30 games this season

What's Ahead
The Pirates will await potential postseason fate, sitting at 15-15 with the regular season and conference tournament now concluded.