Pirates Back at Walsh to take on Columbia Lions

Published: Tuesday, December 9, 2025

by Victor Lisboa

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall Pirates (5-2) are back home in Walsh Gymnasium on Tuesday night, set for a clash with the Columbia Lions (6-4) in hopes of getting back in the win column.

The Pirates suffered their second loss of the season on Sunday, when they traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina to take on the NC State Wolfpack. Jada Eads led all scorers, as she notched 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists for the Pirates. Jordana Cordio and Mariana Valenzuela led behind Eads with ten points each.

The Pirates were off to a good start and had a five-point lead entering halftime. However, the bigs for the Wolfpack appeared to overwhelm the Pirates on the glass. Forward Maddie Cox for the Wolfpack led all players with 12 rebounds, and the Wolfpack finished +13 in rebounds for the game. As a result, they also ended up +12 in paint points.

Now the Pirates are back home, ready to reconvene against a Columbia team they last played in November of 2023, and lost that matchup by 11 points, (72-61). However, the last time the Pirates beat the Lions was a memorable WNIT Elite Eight game in March of 2022.

Looking ahead to this year’s matchup, the Pirates are still undefeated at home (3-0). On the other hand, the Columbia Lions are 3-0 on the road, guaranteeing one of these streaks to come to a halt.

The Columbia Lions are led by junior guard Riley Weiss. She currently averages 19.1 points per game on 41.6% shooting from the field. Her 3-point shooting percent is notably down however, currently shooting just 28.8% from three.

Meanwhile, several players for Pirates are sharing lead roles under Coach Bozzella. However, it has been the new transfer from Florida State, Mariana Valenzuela who has been the Pirates’ top scorer thus far.

Coach Bozzella has seemed to unlock her impressive abilities as she is having a career season averaging 14.7 ppg, 8.3 rebounds and is shooting 55% from the field and an impressive 40% from three-point range.

Coming back home to Walsh, after dropping two of the last three games, expect Coach Bozzella to have this roster ready to protect the home court.

The Pirates average 76.9 points per game and allow 62.7 points per game. On the other hand, the Columbia Lions allow for 75.5 points per game and give up 66.8 points per game. This gives the Pirates the slight edge on both sides of the floor thus far this season.

However, with both undefeated streaks on the line for both teams, I expect this to be a fun battle between the two. Catch tipoff at 6:00 P.M. with Jack Pine and Jacob Glick on the call for 89.5 FM WSOU.

Victor Lisboa can be reached at victor.lisboa@student.shu.edu 

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