Pirates Unable to Find Rhythm in Lopsided Loss to Villanova

Published: Friday, December 19, 2025

by Caitlin Barrar

VILLANOVA, P.A. – The Seton Hall Pirates (7-4, 1-1) were on the wrong end of a one-sided affair against the Villanova Wildcats (9-2, 2-0), falling by a score of 72-55 on Friday night.

The Pirates started off firing on all cylinders. They found themselves up by six halfway through the opening quarter against a tough Villanova defense thanks to a Jada Eads long-range shot, who led the team with twelve points.

But that was the last time the Pirates would hold a lead as uncharacteristic, unforced turnovers allowed the Wildcats to claw back. In the final seconds of the first frame, Villanova’s Brooke Bender nailed a three and the Wildcats never looked back.

That was just the first of the ensuing rainstorm of three-pointers from the Wildcats. In the second quarter, Villanova went 7 of 12 from beyond the arc headlined by a perfect 5-5 shooting performance from Ryanne Allen. Villanova shot 45 percent from three in the first half, while Seton Hall connected on just 28 percent of their attempts from the perimeter.

Unable to put a stop to the Wildcats’ perimeter offense, the Pirates also struggled to find answers on the other end of the floor. Seton Hall committed ten first-half turnovers, leading to 16 Villanova points. Villanova finished out the half on a 12-2 run, with Jada Eads stopping the surge with a triple in the final seconds.

The second half brought little relief for the Pirates. Sloppy play handed the Wildcats a wide-open fastbreak, allowing them to pull away decisively and forcing Coach Bozzella to call a timeout.

Finally, the Pirates briefly were able to gather momentum as the Wildcats went cold midway through the third quarter. They capitalized for a short while after back-to-back Savannah Catalon threes.

Catalon had seven points in the frame but her impact was suddenly erased as she went down hard following a play early in the fourth quarter and would not return to the game.

The Wildcats’ third quarter dominance was led by Jasmine Boscoe who finished the game with 20 points, with seven of them coming in that period. Much like in the first, Bender converted on another last-second triple to extend the Pirates’ deficit to 21 points.

If the Hall can take any positives, it is that despite being down fifteen-plus points the whole second half, they continued to be aggressive and give the Wildcats a run for their money. They held Villanova to just six points in the first half of the final quarter but were in too deep of a hole to string together a comeback.

Seton Hall has historically struggled to win in the Finneran Pavilion, and tonight that trend continued. Ultimately, they could not get anything flowing on offense and the second-best offense in the BIG EAST left the normally resilient Pirates defense without an answer.

The Pirates will look to bounce back in BIG EAST play when they take on the Creighton Blue Jays in Omaha on Monday at 4:00 P.M. Sean Casey and Christian Oliveri will have the call on 89.5 FM WSOU.

Caitlin Barrar can be reached at caitlin.barrar@student.shu.edu 

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