Pirates Face Musketeers in BIG EAST Tournament

Published: Saturday, March 8, 2025

by Lauren Reese

UNCASVILLE, CONN. - The No. 3 Seton Hall Pirates (21-8, 13-5) will take on the No. 11 Xavier Musketeers in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday, March 8, with tipoff at the Mohegan Sun Arena at 9:30 p.m. 

The Hall clinched a first-round bye on Feb. 23rd, in their 66-57 win at St. John’s. After their most recent nailbiter 59-57 win last Sunday at Xavier, the Pirates are looking to head into the tournament with a full head of steam. Specifically, they hope to continue proving the doubters wrong, solidifying themselves as an NCAA tournament candidate.

While their last matchup against the Musketeers was too close for comfort, the Pirates’ resilience was on full display in Ohio. A well-rounded team effort helped the visitors claw back after being down 13 points. They were led in scoring by Savannah Catalon and Kaydan Lawson, who both had 14 on the afternoon. 

Their seventh conference road win of the season is their most since the 2014-15 season. That year also was the last time the Pirates made the Big Dance. 

This past Thursday, both Jada Eads and Faith Masonius picked up BIG EAST First Team Honors. Eads was additionally selected to the All-Freshmen team, standing alongside big names like UConn’s Sarah Strong and Villanova’s Jasmine Biscoe. 

Meanwhile, Catalon and Masonius head into today’s matchup averaging 14.2 and 15.4 points, respectively. As the two leading scorers for this team, they’ll matchup against Xavier’s top two players of Aizhanique Mayo and Meri Kanerva.

Xavier's performance yesterday that got them into this game today took the crowd by surprise. Despite having just one conference win in the regular season, the No. 11 seed took down the No. 6 DePaul Blue Demons 80-73. Dominantly, the Musketeers opened the game on a 15-2 run, at one point leading by 22 points with about four minutes left in the third quarter. While DePaul went on a tear to tie the game at 62-62 with five minutes left in the fourth, Xavier locked down on defense, secured the upset win. 

Kanerva’s career-high 28 point performance comes off the heels of her being selected to the 2025 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team alongside Eads. The Finland native leads her team with 11.3 PPG. Closely behind her is Aizhanique Mayo, who also scored a career-high 27 points with six 3-pointers vs the Blue Demons. 

Some keys for the Pirates include continuing to force turnovers, watch the foul trouble, and push wisely into the paint. Having recent experience of playing this team just a week ago, as well as watching them in their game yesterday, the Pirates know how fast of a start Xavier can go out on. The Musketeers will look to catch the Pirates off guard immediately, and feed the ball as much as they can to Kanerva. 

You can hear C.J. Weipz and Jack Pine on the call for WSOU 89.5 FM with tipoff at 9:30 p.m., with in-studio pregame from Pat Corsello, Chris Jones, and Brian Henderson beginning at 9:00. 

Lauren Reese is an Assistant Sports Director and Web Editor for WSOU, and can be reached at lauren.reese@student.shu.edu. 

 

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