Earlier today, the BIG EAST named Seton Hall women’s basketball graduate forward Mariana Valenzuela its Player of the Week.
Valenzuela became the first Pirate from the (9-4, 3-1 in the BIG EAST) women’s basketball team to earn the honor this season, and the third overall Pirate to do so across either the men’s or women’s basketball programs.
Valenzuela joins men’s basketball graduate guard AJ Staton-McCray, who earned the honor on Dec. 1st following his standout performance in the Maui Invitational, and senior forward Stephon Payne, who earned it just last week after recording a 18-point, 16-rebound double-double in the team’s win over Providence. Payne was also named one of five Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
The honor for Valenzuela comes just a day after the Pirates’ 75-55 home win over Xavier, in which she finished with 16 points and ten rebounds for the second double-double of her collegiate career. After a relatively quiet first half, during which the 6-foot-2 forward was mostly camped behind the three-point line, SHU head coach Anthony Bozzella said postgame that he told Valenzuela at halftime “to get her rear end under the basket.”
Get under the basket she did, as Valenzuela scored seven of her ten second-half points in the paint. She also dominated the glass in the second half, especially on the offensive end—a season-high four of her eight second-half rebounds were on offense, three of them coming in the third quarter alone. Listening to Bozzella’s halftime advice paid off, as Valenzuela’s second-half performance helped the Pirates roll past a Musketeers squad who just refused to relent.
It was not just that performance, however, that earned Valenzuela the honor. The Mazatlan, Mexico native was even better in the Pirates’ road win over Creighton on Dec. 22, during which she scored a team-high 23 points while hitting 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc. Bozzella also said after Sunday’s game that Valenzuela is “one of the best three-point shooters I’ve ever coached.”
In that game, Valenzuela finished just two points shy of her season- and career-high, which she scored earlier this season in the Pirates’ conference home opening win over Butler on Dec. 4. After that game, Bozzella applauded Valenzuela for her work ethic, saying “she works every day” and “doesn’t say a word” about it.
That kind of work-ethic and professionalism only comes with experience, something Valenzuela has a lot of at both at the collegiate and international level. Prior to SHU, she spent three seasons at Florida State, where she appeared in 80 games for the Seminoles. More noteworthy is Valenzuela’s experience with the Mexico national team, which she has played for since 2019. In this past summer’s FIBA Central American Women’s Championship, she was named MVP, earned the Best Center award and was selected to the All-Tournament First-Team.
Valenzuela wasn’t the only Pirate, though, to earn recognition in the conference’s weekly awards. Junior guard Savannah Catalon was also named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, marking her third time earning the honor this season.
Like Valenzuela, Catalan also averaged double-figures (16 points) in the Pirates’ pair of wins this past week. After stuffing the stat sheet against Creighton with eight points, seven rebounds and six assists, Catalon saved her best performance for the second-half against Xavier, during which she scored 19 of her season- and game-high 24 points to lead the Pirates past the Musketeers.
Although no stranger to conference recognition, perhaps nobody recognizes Catalon’s talent more than Bozzella.
“We are all thankful that she’s a Pirate,” Bozzella said about Catalon after Sunday’s game. “But each day I say an extra, ‘Thank you’—[because] she’s a winner.”
Valenzuela, Catalon and the Pirates will look to end the calendar year with a win, as they host the (8-4, 1-2 in the BIG EAST) Georgetown University Bulldogs on Dec. 31 at Walsh Gymnasium.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
