The Seton Hall women’s basketball team was overpowered by No. 14 Marquette on Friday afternoon, falling 96-60 and never garnering a lead. The loss puts the Pirates at 11-6 overall, including 3-3 in Big East play.
The Pirates began the game down 13-4, as Marquette showed off its high-octane offense. The Pirates quickly clawed back behind two Victoria Cardaci hits from beyond the arc, but that 16-12 scoreline would be the closest the Pirates ever got.
The Golden Eagles quickly followed up Cardaci’s showing with a dominant, 14-0 run to take away all momentum. The first quarter ended with Marquette leading 35-17, as the Pirates shot 37 percent from the field as compared to Marquette’s 61 percent.
The second quarter did not yield better results than the first for Seton Hall. Early on, Inja Butina picked up her fourth foul of the game, which landed her on the bench for a good portion of the time remaining. Marquette continued to dominate the quarter, and the scoring from Seton Hall was mostly from Cardaci and Shadeen Samuels. The Pirates trailed 56-31 at the end of the first half and were led in scoring by Cardaci.
The third quarter was the same as the first half, as Seton Hall’s deficit got worse. With a little under seven minutes left in the quarter, Butina fouled out and finished with two points and two assists in just nine minutes. At one point, Seton Hall even slipped to being down by 31 points.
The fourth quarter provided more time for Marquette to extend its lead, and at the height, the nationally-ranked Golden Eagles led by 40 points.
The leading scorers for the Pirates were Cardaci and Samuels with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Selena Philoxy also had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Pirates will look to bounce back on the road on Jan. 20 against DePaul.
Joseph Ippolito can be reached at joseph.ippolito@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @joeippy.
