Seton Hall stifled by No.15 DePaul's defense, losing 85-68 in Chicago

Date: January 11, 2020

By: Esmeralda Morales

Seton Hall women’s basketball fell to No. 15 DePaul Blue Demons, 85-68.

After the Pirates won the tip, they quickly turned the ball over to the Blue Demons who came into this contest averaging 23.6 takeaways per game. Seton Hall managed to turn the ball over twice in the opening minute. Although they had a few miscues handling the ball to begin the game, the Pirates had a lead early on.

Seton Hall had an eight point-lead with 4:44 remaining in the first quarter, but DePaul managed to come back and had the game tied up at 22 by the end of the first. Seton Hall was held scoreless for over three minutes in the second quarter after Shadeen Samuels made a quick layup to start off the quarter. Lexi Held made a jump shot that put DePaul in front 27-24. After that basket, Seton Hall would trail for the remainder of the game.

At the half, Seton Hall trailed by five points, the score being 46-41. Barbara Johnson had a solid first half and led the team in scoring with 14 points along with six rebounds. For DePaul, Chante Stonewall and Deja Church played the entire 20 minutes of the first half.

They had a combined 18 points. DePaul entered this game second in the nation for three-point field goals made per game and went 7-16 on their attempts, while Seton Hall only had one made attempt from deep, made by Alexis Lewis, in the first half.

A key player in Seton Hall trying to make a comeback late in the third, was Lewis. She drained three straight three-pointers in the final minutes of the quarter to cut the deficit down to five. Lewis finished the game with 12 points off the bench.

DePaul scored eight unanswered pointed in the final quarter of the game making the score 76-62. Seton hall wouldn’t get their first points until there was 5:40 left in the game. They were able to cut the lead down to ten points, but the Blue Demons once again held the Pirates scoreless until there was 20 seconds left in the game.

In the second half of this game, Seton hall was very streaky with their shooting. They would go on a scoring run to cut the lead down to single digits, only to be held to scoreless for minutes at a time.

Seton Hall once again struggled to find their three-point shot. Shooting 28.6 percent from deep. Seton Hall would also finish the game with 21 turnovers.

With this loss, Seton Hall is now 3-2 in conference play in the Big East. They are sitting in third place, tied with St. Johns and Villanova. DePaul is still undefeated in conference play and remains in first place.

Seton hall will play next against Marquette on Sunday at 3 p.m. You can hear full coverage of the game plus pregame here on 89.5 FM WSOU. Chris Russo and Jose Feliciano will be on call for the game.

Esmeralda Morales can be reached at esmeralda.morales@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Women's Basketball