Pirates slip up against Villanova in Big East home opener, 61-55

Date: January 3, 2020

By: Connor Hester

The Seton Hall Pirates (9-4, 2-1) opened 2020 with a home loss to the Villanova Wildcats (7-6, 2-1), 61-55.

Shadeen Samuels posted a double-double for the Pirates, going for 11 points on 3-for-7 from the field and 14 rebounds in the losing effort. Desiree Elmore and Barbara Johnson led the Pirates in scoring, putting up 12 points each.

Alexis Lewis came into the game averaging 13.2 points per game. She started the day 0-for- 5, before hitting two of her final three shots of the afternoon, giving her five points on the day.

As a whole, the pirates just could not hit shots from beyond the arc, going 5-of-27 from deep. “Villanova dared us to shoot the three and they won,” said head coach Anthony Bozzella. “We came out, we were tentative, and we never got into a rhythm… to say it’s disappointing is an understatement.”

Alexis Lewis went 1-for-7 and Mya Jackson went 1-8 from three-point land. The Wildcats were led by three scorers in double digits. Redshirt freshman Madison Siegrist had a double-double of her own, scoring 18 and snagging 10 rebounds. Senior Mary Gedaka led all scorers with 20 points on 9-16 from the floor. Gedaka also added seven rebounds, with four on the offensive end of the floor.

After the game, head coach Harry Perretta said; “Bottomline, for us to win our other players besides Mady [Siegrist] and Mary [Gedaka] are going to have to score and today they did”.

Senior Bridget Herlihy added 11 points for the Wildcats, shooting 3-6 from beyond the arc. Perretta continued, saying “Teams are spending so much time guarding Mady [Siegrist] and Mary [Gedaka] that the other kids are getting easy shots”.

The Pirates got out to a quick lead off of a Lauren Park-Lane layup to open the scoring, but the Wildcats were able to score five straight and tie it up. Tied at 15 after one, the Pirates jumped out to a 18-15 lead with, but a 7-0 Villanova run quickly changed that giving them a 22-18 lead. Seton Hall’s last lead of the game disappeared on a Herlihy three-pointer with 8:41 left in the first half.

Coming down the stretch, the Pirates were able to keep the game tight, getting it down to a one point game on a Johnson jumper with 3:33 to play, but for every shot that the Pirates made late in the game the Wildcats had an answer. With 1:42 remaining in the game a Elmore layup got The Hall back within one before Raven James made her only three-point attempt of the night.

“We blew a golden opportunity to win a home game,” said Bozzella. “We gotta find a way to beat Georgetown, and that’s going be a tough game.”

The Pirates are back in action Sunday at 1 p.m., when they play host to the Georgetown Hoyas at the Historic Walsh Gymnasium.

Connor Hester can be reached at connor.hester@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Women's Basketball