Game Preview: Hall set to host #8 Marquette in matinee clash (2/17/19)

Date: February 16, 2019

By Rob Ruszkowski

The Seton Hall Women’s Basketball team (14-11 Overall, 6-8 Conference) will aim to break their three-game losing streak when the #8 Marquette Golden Eagles (21-4 Overall, 12-1 Conference) come to South Orange to face off in a Sunday afternoon matchup.

The Pirates have been struggling as of late, having dropped four of their last five games and their last three contests resulted in losses at Providence (82-75), at Creighton (80-71), and at home against DePaul on Friday night (94-85). In the game against DePaul, sophomore Desiree Elmore led Seton Hall with 21 points and eight rebounds, and Inja Butina contributed five assists despite the loss.

However, the biggest concern of the night came in the third quarter when junior Shadeen Samuels, Seton Hall’s leading scorer and rebounder, suffered an injury. It is uncertain how severe the injury is at this time and whether she will be sitting out for an extended period of time.

Marquette is also coming off of a loss for the first time in Big East play as their undefeated conference record was shattered on Friday when they took on the St. John’s Red Storm at Carnesecca Arena in Queens. After leading by eight points at halftime, the #8 Golden Eagles were not able to close out the matchup as they went on to lose by a score of 81-74. Marquette’s leading scorer, Natisha Hiedman was held to just three points but both Erika Davenport and Amani Wilborn were able to score 24 and 22 respectively. Being only their fourth loss of the season, Marquette will also look to bounce back on Sunday as they look to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time this year.

Although Marquette is currently sitting comfortably in first place in the Big East Conference with a three-game lead over Butler and DePaul, Seton Hall will look to stop the recent struggles of late and move up in the standings as they currently sit tied for sixth place with St. John’s with only six games left to play in the regular season.

The Pirates will have to leave their recent sloppy play behind them and compete at their top potential if they look to win against the Golden Eagles on Sunday in the historic Walsh Gymnasium. Follow along on 89.5 FM WSOU to see who will leave South Orange with the win as Dagen Hughes and Bob Towey will give you all the play-by-play action.The matchup is set to tip-off at 12:00 pm, with pregame coverage from Jose Feliciano and Wilnir Louis starting at 11:45.

Robert Ruszkowski can be reached at ruszkoro@shu.edu.

Posted in: Game Previews, Sports, Women's Basketball, WSOU