Seton Hall
Samuels injured as Pirates drop third straight
Date: February 16, 2019By: Michael Daly
The Pirates were unable to pick up a season sweep against defending conference champion DePaul, falling 94-85 to the Blue Demons on Friday night. However, perhaps the biggest loss for Seton Hall was that of their star player Shadeen Samuels, who went down hard on her left shoulder and did not return to the game.
Sixteen seconds into the game, Maya Stovall committed a foul on Inja Butina. Subsequently, the Pirates took an early 2-0 lead, with Butina’s pair of free-throws. Mart’E Grays’ layup underneath the basket tied the game up at two, 28 seconds into the game. 7:31 on the clock, Nicole Jimenez drilled a three-pointer on the right wing to put the Pirates up 5-2.
Shadeen Samuels captured a defensive rebound and raced down the floor for a layup, giving the Pirates a 12-9 advantage with 2:13 to go in the first quarter. Ashton Millender took advantage of a fast break opportunity and brought the Blue Demons within one point, 12-11, at the 1:43 waypoint.
Selena Philoxy scored a layup in the paint, with 44 seconds remaining to make it a 16-14 ballgame. Samuels hit a three-point shot on the left wing to finish the first quarter, as Seton Hall was on top 19-14.
Lexi Held put-back a missed layup and DePaul cut into the lead, making the score 19-16, 30 seconds into the second quarter. At the 8:43 mark, Shadeen Samuels traveled and Sonya Morris took advantage of the turnover by connecting on a jumper to the right of the restricted area, the score was 21-19. Millender scored a second-chance layup with 7:17 to go, and she took advantage of a three-point opportunity when she was fouled.
Kaela Hilaire assisted Jimenez’s three-pointer in the far corner, tying the game at 24 with 5:24 left. 17 seconds later, DePaul would take a 27-24 lead, when Chante Stonewall canned a three-pointer on the left arc. Stonewall scored again at the 4:39 mark, to extend the Blue Demons’ lead to 29-26.
Hilaire lost her dribble at the 2:03 waypoint and Morris went down the other end of the court to extend DePaul’s lead to 35-26. Jimenez sank another three-pointer, with 51 seconds left in the half, which cut the deficit to 40-31. DePaul went into halftime leading Seton Hall 40-36.
Assistant coach DeFalco discussed the team’s shot selection in the first-half, “We have to finish. We had 3-4 layup opportunities and we could not finish. We just have to stay consistent.”
Samuels scored a layup at the 9:21 point in the third quarter, putting the Pirates within two points of DePaul, 40-38. After Kelly Campbell’s defensive rebound with 6:45 left, Grays seized the opportunity in transition and the score was 50-43.
Seton Hall climbed back within 10 points of their opponent, 60-51, after Desiree Elmore scored in the paint, there was 3:43 left in the quarter. As time expired in the third, Grays scored a chance-chance layup to extend her team’s lead to 66-60.
Jimenez scored on a layup and The Hall trailed 66-62, 13 seconds in the quarter. Philoxy fouled Grays and she cashed in at the charity stripe, to give DePaul a 75-68 edge on Seton Hall, at the 6:00 mark.
Held's three-pointer with 92 seconds left, appeared to put the game away for the Blue Demons and the margin was 11 points, 83-72. However, Millender committed a turnover and Butina made a jumper with 55 seconds left, as the Pirates trailed 86-80. DePaul would hang on to win 94-85.
DePaul shot a field goal percentage of 52.3% and connected on 10/29 attempted three-point shots. Seton Hall shot 47.7% from the field and made 9/25 three-pointers. Desiree Elmore led the Pirates in scoring with 21 points and she added eight rebounds to the box score. Samuels recorded 19 points, prior to her leaving the game in the third quarter with an apparent upper-body injury.
Head coach Bozzella discussed the loss to DePaul and the injuries suffered by Seton Hall, “It was disappointing in some ways because we gave it a great effort. DePaul is a great team...When you lose your two best players at certain points in a game, it is hard to win in this league.”
Coach Bozella highlighted the upcoming matchup against the Golden Eagles, “We play Marquette next, they are a team that plays with a lot of energy. We will come out and match that energy.”
Seton Hall is now 14-11 on the season and 6-8 in Big East play. The Pirates play Marquette on Sunday afternoon at noon in Walsh Gymnasium.
Michael Daly can be reached at michael.daly@student.shu.edu.
