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Pirates Survive Xavier to Clinch BIG EAST Three Seed
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Pirates Survive Xavier to Clinch BIG EAST Three Seed - Seton Hall University Athletics
The Seton Hall women's basketball team needed to rally from a 13-point deficit, but outlasted Xavier, 59-57, on Sunday to clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcomi...
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29. Seton Hall 59, Xavier 57 (F) WBB Box Score - Seton Hall University Athletics
29. Seton Hall 59, Xavier 57 (F) WBB Box Score
shupirates.com
CINCINNATI – The Seton Hall women's basketball team needed to rally from a 13-point deficit, but outlasted Xavier, 59-57, on Sunday to clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament.
The Pirates scored just 18 first-half points, but came out of the locker room with a 10-1 run and never trailed again.
Kaydan Lawson (Cleveland, Ohio) had 14 points with a team-high seven rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Savannah Catalon (Mansfield, Texas) also had 14 points to go with five assists and a team-high seven steals.
THE STORY:
After an uninspiring first quarter, Xavier opened the second with the first eight points to take a commanding 17-6 advantage with 5:51 to play before halftime. The Pirates were just 3-for-20 to start the game as their shooting woes followed them into the second. Down 21-8, The Hall started showing signs of life late with an 8-0 run, and a steal and score by Catalon, cut their deficit to 21-16.
The Hall played its worst half of the season in the first 20 minutes against Xavier. The Pirates shot just 26 percent from the floor and committed 13 turnovers. The Hall entered the averaging only 14.0 turnovers per game. Despite this, The Hall only trailed, 24-18, at the break.
As expected, the Pirates upped their intensity to begin the second half. A questionable flagrant foul called on Catalon just 15 seconds into the second half seemed to light a fire under The Hall. The Pirates opened the quarter with a 10-1 run to take a 28-25 lead with 6:39 left in the third quarter. The Pirates outscored the Musketeers, 27-to-14, in the third quarter.
Xavier opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 burst to cut their deficit to one point, 48-47, with 7:06 remaining. The Hall answered by keeping the Musketeers off the scoreboard for the next 3:42, going on a 7-0 spurt to grab a 55-47 advantage with 3:49 to go. Credit Xavier, they continued to rally, and hit two late three-pointers, the latter of which cut their deficit to 58-57 with only 18 seconds left. Yaya Lops (Stamford, Conn.) hit one of two free-throws to make the score 59-57, and Xavier wasn't able to find the equalizer.
THE NUMBERS:
- Seton Hall was 20-for-51 (39.2%) from the floor for the game, while Xavier was 20-for-42 (47.6%). The Hall was 1-for-9 (11.1%) from three-point range, while the Musketeers were 8-for-21 (38.1%).
- Lawson had a season-high 14 points to go with a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.
- The Hall out-rebounded Xavier, 30-to-28, which included a 13-to-7 edge on the offensive glass and a 14-to-4 advantage in second-chance points.
- Catalon tallied 14 points, five assists and seven steals.
- Seton Hall was 18-for-24 (75.0%) from the free-throw line, while Xavier was 9-for-14 (64.3%).
- Faith Masonius (Spring Lake, N.J.) had 13 points, four rebounds and two steals.
- Seton Hall forced 29 turnovers, while the Musketeers forced 19. The Hall had a 31-to-8 advantage in points-off-turnovers.
- Seton Hall closes out the regular season with a 21-8 overall record and 13-5 mark in BIG EAST play, while Xavier falls to 6-23 overall and 1-17 in conference play.
- The Pirates have clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament and will face the winner of No. 6 DePaul and No. 11 Xavier in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 8 at 9:30 p.m.
- The Hall is now a commanding 23-3 all-time against the Musketeers and has won 13 in a row against them.
- Seton Hall's win is its seventh BIG EAST road victory of the season, its most since the 2014-15 season.
- Today's victory finishes Seton Hall's schedule with 13 BIG EAST victories, which ranks third-most in program history. Only the Pirates' 16 wins during the 1993-94 season and 15 wins in the 2014-15 season were higher.
- Today's game was the 1,500th in Seton Hall women's basketball history.
- The Pirates collected at least 10 steals for the 19th time this season.
- It's the 23rd time in 29 games that the Pirates have forced more turnovers than their opponent.
- Seton Hall forced at least 20 turnovers today for the 15th time this season.
- With their efforts today, both Catalon and Lawson surpassed the 500-point milestone for their careers.
Seton Hall will begin post-season play with a trip to the BIG EAST Tournament, presented by Jeep, at Mohegan Sun Arena next week. The Pirates will face either No. 6 DePaul or No. 11 Xavier in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 8 at 9:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on FS2. As always, 89.5 FM WSOU or wsou.net will also carry the contest.