Credit: GR Productions / Seton Hall Women's Basketball
Pirate Preview: Savannah Catalon
Published: Sunday, September 15, 2024
by Lauren Reese
In just her first year as a Pirate, Savannah Catalon became an integral force to be reckoned with as a part of head coach Tony Bozzella’s squad. Despite the team consisting mostly of upperclassmen, the young guard from Burleson, Texas broke through mid-season as an off-the-bench powerhouse. Even with only three starts in the 2023-2024 season, she made herself known within each of her outstanding 31 appearances. With her one-step-ahead ability to finish paired with her physicality, it’s no wonder she was a unanimous selection to the Big East All-Freshman Team this past season.
The first few months of the season started simple and consistent for Catalon, as she averaged 5 points per game in about 18 minutes of play per game. But slowly throughout this time, her confidence and reliability on the court continued to rise, and her minutes on the court also began to increase. This would soon help her in conference play, and The Hall’s away matchup against Butler on January 6th, 2024 foreshadowed this talent waiting to erupt; Catalon rained 50% from the field, and 62% from three. Flash forward almost a month later against Xavier, her career officially skyrocketed. Within her now-normal 26 minutes of play, she soared 58% from the field, 7-7 from the free throw line, and got one steal, concluding the afternoon with a career-high 21 points. Naturally, the breakout performance helped name her Big East Freshman of the Week, but Catalon had no plans of stopping there.
A week later against DePaul, she went 41% from the field and a perfect (and historic) 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. This was only the third time in school history that a player has made all of her free throws with a minimum of 10 attempts. Additionally, it was the second-best by a freshman in a regular season Big East game since UConn's Rebecca Lobo had her 13-for-13 performance in 1992. Catalon was named Big East Freshman of the Week for back-to-back weeks, and quickly became a name to watch out for in the conference. To top it all off at the end of the season, she finished third in the conference in free-throw shooting, with a .866 average. While it may have taken a few months for her big results to show on stat sheets and accolades, she constantly displayed a tenacious yet tactical style of play that always kept her team energized.
With Catalon’s help, the Pirates made it to the second round of the Big East tournament, with a win against DePaul but a loss to notorious rival Creighton. While they didn’t make it past Saint Joseph’s in the first round of the WBIT, it became clear to the Pirate faithful that her future is bright within this program. She was awarded the Seton Hall Freshman Female Co-Athlete of the Year this past May at the SHUcademy Awards Ceremony.
Savannah Catalon rose to the challenge of collegiate play with no hesitation, and excelled beyond measure. As she steps up as a leader in her second year, she is poised to have another remarkable season. With an equally talented and humble player like her, one cannot help but feel excited for the energy this sophomore will bring to the Seton Hall women’s basketball team, let alone the Big East Conference in the 2024-2025 season.
Lauren Reese is a Sports Web Editor and Assistant Sports Director at WSOU Lauren can be reached at lauren.reese@student.shu.eduPosted in: sports,