Seton Hall
DePaul Edges Seton Hall on Senior Day
Date: February 25, 2018
(Photo: SHU Athletics)
By: Angelo Maltese
The Seton Hall women's basketball team went tick-for-tack with the league leading DePaul Blue Demons but fell just short, 72-68 on Senior Day at Historic Walsh Gym.
Before the game was played, Seton Hall honored all of its senior participants and student athletes with a ceremony. The lone senior on the team, JaQuan Jackson, was presented with a framed No. 0 jersey to commemorate her time as a Seton Hall Pirate.
Seton Hall (15-14, 7-11 BIG EAST) jumped out to a good start in the regular-season finale after taking the first quarter, 20-15. JaQuan Jackson led the way in the opening quarter with nine points, hitting from deep three times in the first. Shadeen Samuels finished the game just a point away from a double-double, finishing with nine points and 11 rebounds. Inja Butina collected 12 points and set-up her teammates with six assists on the day.
Nicole Jimenez paced the Seton Hall offense with a big performance from behind-the-arc. Jimenez led all-scorers with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep and also contributed on defense with four steals.
DePaul (23-7, 15-3 BIG EAST) took over the game in the second quarter. Led by Ashton Millender and Chante Stonewall, the Blue Demons outscored the Pirates 24-8 in the second quarter. Millender finished the game with 16 points, including three 3-pointers that provided some momentum for the Blue Demons. Stonewall notched a double-double after tabbing 12 points and 10 rebounds for DePaul. Lauren Prochaska and Tanita Allen also scored double-digits for the Blue Demons, both contributing 11 points.
With the win, DePaul has now won its fifth consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title. Coach Tony Bozzella was confident with his team's ability to go forward into the BIG EAST Tournament.
"We will put together a concentrated week of practice, and understand what we are doing and the gameplan [for the BET games], and if we do that we have a chance of being successful," Coach Bozzella said.
With the conclusion of the regular-season, the Pirates are now primed to head to the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Seton Hall enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed, and they will take on 10th-seeded Xavier on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. WSOU will have all of the coverage of the BIG EAST Women's Tournament on 89.5 WSOU FM, WSOU.net, and the iHeart Radio App.
Angelo Maltese can be reached at angelomaltese21@gmail.com.
