Seton Hall
Pirates Complete Comeback in Win over Butler
Date: February 4, 2018
(Photo: SHU Athletics)
By: Tim Best
The Seton Hall women's basketball team pulled off a fourth quarter comeback for the second consecutive game as they outscored the Butler Bulldogs 30-16 over the final ten minutes to pull away with a 75-64 victory on Super Bowl Sunday inside historic Walsh Gym. The win puts The Hall above .500 in conference play for the first time this season. Shadeen Samuels posted a new career-high of 22 points in the winning effort and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Inja Butina, who had 17 points in Friday's comeback win over Xavier, missed Sunday's game due to illness and the effects of her absence were quickly seen in the first quarter as Butler surged to an 18-10 lead.
"We know she's a big part of this team," Samuels said. "We all basically had to pick up the slack for her, so everyone had to do a little bit more than they normally do in order to win."
"These kids really have that next man up mentality," head coach Tony Bozzella said. "They all believe in each other and I'm really proud of them."
"The Pirates got a handful of bad breaks towards the end of the first half as multiple players found themselves in foul trouble and they also failed to get several 50/50 calls. Nonetheless, they persevered and only trailed 37-32 heading into the locker room. The Hall had a narrow 13-11 edge in the third quarter to get themselves within a possession of Butler's lead. The Bulldogs then took a 52-45 lead early in the fourth quarter, but The Hall responded by scoring the next 15 points to help them pull away. Kaity Healy saw significant playing time in the final quarter and was a major sparkplug on the defensive end to help fuel the rally.
"She was the star of the game today," Bozzella said of Healy. "We asked her to guard [Whitney] Jennings, to be at the bottom of the zone, to reverse the basketball, and to talk out there. I didn't have to coach because she coached the game out there."
The Pirates' strong defense in the fourth quarter helped create better offense as Samuels got a layup and a three-point play to get them within two before Nicole Jimenez, who started at point guard in place of Butina, swished a three to give them their first lead of the game. Their free throw shooting was also key down the stretch as they made 19 of their 21 attempts from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, including a perfect 6-of-6 for Kaela Hilaire. In addition, Samuels scored half of her 22 points in the final period of play.
"We knew that the game was far from over," Samuels said. "We couldn't just give up just because we weren't getting things our way, so we stuck with it."
The Pirates will play their next three games on the road, the first of which will be a Friday matinee matchup against Georgetown. Mike Lovero and Alex Melillo will have the call here on WSOU from the nation's capital starting at 2 p.m.
Tim Best can be reached at timbest315@gmail.com.
