Seton Hall
Game Preview: Women's basketball travels to Butler for first Big East road test (1/4/19)
Date: January 3, 2019By Mat Mlodzinski
The Seton Hall Women’s Basketball team travels to Butler this Friday, for a big game against the 12-1 Bulldogs. The Pirates go in as underdogs, but not by much, as they look to get to ten wins. It would be the quickest they’ve gotten to ten wins since 2015-16, the last time they saw themselves in the NCAA Tournament.
It will be key for the Pirates to play efficient on offense, as Butler’s defense has throttled opponents thus far this season. The Pirates do average north of 81 PPG, but Butler has the perfect counter, only allowing their opponents to score 51.9 PPG. Something will have to give for whoever wants to come away with this one.
Butler is led by Whitney Jennings, who leads the team in scoring at 14.5 PPG. The Bulldogs also have a good inside game thanks to Tori Schickel, who averages 12.7 points per contest and rips down over nine rebounds a game.
Of course, the Pirates have a very balanced scoring attack, with Shadeen Samuels, Nicole Jimenez, and Inja Butina all putting up double figures in their respective season averages. Victoria Cardaci and Kaela Hilaire have each served as primary role players, with both of them scoring over seven points a game with the ability to drop 20 any single night.
For the Pirates to win, they will have to be efficient from three and play good in the paint. The Bulldogs play nearly perfect defense, so Seton Hall will need to have one of those nights from three. If Kimi Evans can play well down low against Schickel, the Pirates will have a good opportunity to come away with the win.
Catch all of the action starting tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. tomorrow on 89.5 FM WSOU as Wilnir Louis and Michael Daly will have your pregame coverage. Tip-off starts at 7:00 p.m. with James Justice and Jose Feliciano on the call.
Mat Mlodzinski can be reached at matthew.mlodzinski@student.shu.edu.
Posted in: Game Previews, Sports, Women's Basketball, WSOU
