Valenzuela Fuels Pirates Past Butler, 70-51

Thursday, December 4

South Orange, N.J.

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

5-1,1-0Big East

Butler

4-5,0-1Big East

Butler

Seton Hall

12/4/2025 10:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Seton Hall opens the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run in route to its first BIG EAST victory.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Graduate student Mariana Valenzuela (Mazatlan, Mexico) erupted or career-highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds to lift the Seton Hall women's basketball team to a 70-51 victory over Butler in the BIG EAST opener for both teams on Thursday.

Leading by eight over a pesky Butler team that refused to relent for the first three quarters, The Hall opened the fourth with a game-changing 15-2 run to pull away.

Valenzuela turned in a career-best performance with 25 points on an efficient 11-for-15 shooting to go with 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.

Junior Savannah Catalon (Mansfield, Texas) had 16 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. She was 4-for-5 from three-point range.

THE STORY:
Butler scored the first bucket of the game, but the Pirates answered with a 9-0 run, and a made three-pointer by Catalon gave The Hall a 9-2 advantage with 5:52 left in the first quarter. Butler cut their deficit to 11-7, but The Hall closed out the quarter with an 8-2 boost to take a 19-9 lead into the second. The Hall forced seven turnovers in the opening quarter and held Butler to just 28.6 percent shooting.

Butler opened the second quarter with the first five points, but Valenzuela drilled a three-pointer from the wing and scored down low on back-to-back possessions to put The Hall up, 24-14, with 4:51 to play before halftime. The Bulldogs battled back and cut their deficit to 29-22 at the break. The Pirates crushed Butler on the boards in the first half, 28-to-14, but had more turnovers, 10-to-7.

After a back-and-forth third quarter, the Pirates took control in the fourth quarter, erupting for 27 points, which started with a 15-2 run to begin the final frame. A three-point play by Valenzuela completed the run and gave The Hall a commanding 58-37 lead with 4:56 left to play. From there, the Pirates lead never shrunk to fewer than 17 points the rest of the way.

Mariana Valenzuela muscling hard down low!!#HALLin 🏀🏴‍☠️🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/CItJ7BHwcw
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) December 5, 2025

THE NUMBERS:

Seton Hall was 29-for-66 (43.9%) from the floor for the game, while Butler was 18-for-54 (33.3%). The Hall was 7-for-16 (43.8%) from three-point range, while the Bulldogs were 6-for-24 (25.0%).
Valenzuela had game-highs of 25 points on 11-for-15 shooting and 13 rebounds. She also had two assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Hall out-rebounded Butler, 45-to-30, which included a 14-to-5 edge on the offensive glass and a 15-to-5 advantage in second-chance points.
Catalon tallied 16 points on the strength of 4-for-5 shooting from three-point range to go with three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Seton Hall was 5-for-10 (50.0%) from the free-throw line, while Butler was 9-for-11 (81.8%).
Sophomore Jada Eads (Orlando, Fla.) had four points, five rebounds, and team-highs of six assists and four steals.
Seton Hall forced 19 turnovers, while the Bulldogs forced 16. The Hall had a 19-to-7 advantage in points-off-turnovers.
Jordana Codio (Winter Garden, Fla.) had nine points, six rebounds and two steals.

WOW!! Tremendous full-court buzzer-beating play by the Pirates to end the third!!#HALLin 🏀🏴‍☠️🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/jUpUizom7C
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) December 5, 2025

THE NOTES:

Seton Hall improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the BIG EAST, while Butler falls to 4-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
The Pirates improve to 20-6 all-time against the Bulldogs and have now won four straight and 14 of the last 15 games in the series.
The Hall improves to 21-23 all-time in BIG EAST openers and is now 9-4 during the Anthony Bozzella era.
With 25 points today, Valenzuela surpassed the 400-points milestone for her career.
Valenzuela collected her first career double-double.
Seton Hall has now collected at least 10 steals in five of six games so far this season.
Seton Hall improves to 144-56 in home games under head coach Anthony Bozzella, and 69-42 against BIG EAST Conference opponents in Walsh Gym.
Catalon has now collected at least three steals in all six games so far this season.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 7 when it travels to Raleigh, N.C. to face NC State. Tip-time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.