Samuels's 18 leads Pirates to 84-73 upset over No. 24 DePaul

Date: January 20, 2019

By Ryan Clayton

 

In the first quarter Seton Hall got off to a bit of a rocky start, not really having a strong offensive attack which showed as it was all DePaul offensively with a balanced scoring attack. The Pirates were able to rally back late in the first but still trailed 21-15.         

 

The second quarter was a completely different story for the Pirates as they were finally able to get things going with 16 pts in the paint. They finished the quarter with a 9-0 run. Nicole Jimenez led the first half scoring with 12 points on 4-8 on from the field. The Pirates had their first lead going into the half, 37-35.

 

The third quarter is where the Pirates really came alive and started to look like a threat to the dynamic DePaul Blue Demons. Early in the third, Victoria Cardaci hit her fourth three and

Desiree Elmore had the strong interior game to go with the outstanding three point shooting from the team. Pirates ended the third with a five point lead (55-50) and went into the fourth with some major confidence.           

 

In the fourth quarter, the Pirates looked flat-out dominant and kept that second and third quarter magic up as they came out swinging looking for the win. Shadeen Samuels came alive in the fourth and finished the game leading in both points and rebounds with 18 and 9 respectively. DePaul brought it close towards the end but it was ultimately Seton Hall who came out on top 84-73 to knock off No. 24 DePaul, their first win against a ranked opponent and DePaul since 2016.

 

It was a very balanced scoring effort from the pirates with Inja Butina, Elmore, and Jimenez all adding 15 points, and Cardaci scoring 12 points shooting 4-8 from 3. With this big win, the Pirates improve to 12-6 Overall and are now 4-3 in Big East play, jumping up to third in the Big East Standings. After going 1-1 on this road trip, Seton Hall will return home for a 4 game home-stand starting with Villanova on Friday January 25th at 7pm. Tune into 89.5 FM WSOU, with coverage starting at 6:45.

 

Ryan Clayton can be reached at ryan.clayton@student.shu.edu.          

Posted in: Sports, Women's Basketball, WSOU