Roses are red, violets are blue, Seton Hall women’s basketball dominated DePaul to extend their win streak to two.
With love in the air at Walsh Gymnasium, the Pirates (17-8, 11-5 BIG EAST) showed none to their guests, the Blue Demons (6-21, 3-13 BIG EAST), defeating them 96-74 to sweep the season series, gain a two-game lead over Marquette for third in the conference standings and guarantee a winning season in league play for The Hall.
Since her former high school teammate Jada Eads went down with a season-ending lower leg injury the last time the Pirates faced DePaul on Jan. 17, freshman guard Ari Woodard has seen her role and minutes increase.
And the freshman has responded accordingly: Woodard scored 11 points in 15 minutes at St. John’s on Feb. 7; four assists in 27 minutes at Marquette on Feb. 11; and in her first-ever career start on Saturday, Woodard dished 11 assists—the most by any Pirate this season.
Love is at its best when its shared, and Woodard was playmaking as early as the opening five seconds of the contest: after senior forward Jordana Codio sent the opening tip-off forward to Woodard in DePaul’s backcourt, the freshman found the senior on a slot cut for the opening basket of the game, SHU leading 2-0—a lead they would hold for the remaining 39:55 of the game.
She collected three more assists in the first quarter, including two more in its opening four minutes, as the Pirates led 25-10 going into the second.
The freshman guard also scored her first points of the game at the first quarter’s 5:12 mark, when Woodard pulled back for a wing three-pointer taken with confidence after her defender went under a screen set by graduate forward Mariana Valenzuela. Her playmaking helped the Pirates take a 49-16 lead at halftime.
Like the first quarter, Woodard collected three assists within the third quarter’s first three or so minutes, finding junior guard Savannah Catalon for a pair of open wing three-pointers, and a trailing Valenzuela for a three-pointer of her own. She dished two more assists for five in the third quarter alone and for a total of 11 in the contest, while also adding five rebounds.
Love isn’t always perfect—but Ja’Kahla Craft was in Saturday’s contest. Also starting in the game, just her third-time ever, the sophomore guard scored a career-high 26 points without missing a single shot from the field or from beyond the arc, going a perfect 11-for-11 and 4-for-4, respectively.
Her performance broke the record for single-game shooting efficiency with a minimum of 10 attempts, making it the most-efficient game by a Pirate in program history
Craft’s 26 points included a 11-0 run all her own during the second quarter. Channeling her best Cupid impression, the sophomore guard hit a trifecta of three-pointers, including two-consecutive corner threes right in front of DePaul’s bench, to put SHU up by 30 with 3:43 left in the quarter. At that point in the game, Craft led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 from deep.
Craft was one of four Pirates in double-figures in the contest, with Catalon and Codio both scoring 17 points and Valenzuela following with 13. Codio and Valenzuela were also one of two Pirates with double-doubles, grabbing 10 and a T-season high 13 rebounds, respectively.
As a team, the Pirates also shot 64.4% from the field—the third-best in a single-game in program history, and the single-best against a BIG EAST opponent.
After scoring just 16 points in the first half, the Blue Demons managed to get red hot in the third quarter, outscoring the Pirates 27-23, which included a 14-0 run from 6:38 to 3:16.
But DePaul’s second half effort was to no avail, as SHU’s first half was too dominant for their opponents to comeback from, as The Hall earned the 96-72 win after leading by as much as 39 points.
Willard, Craft and the Pirates will look to complete the third-straight season sweep on Feb. 18, when they travel to the Queen City to face Xavier (4-12, 11-14 BIG EAST), the losers of three-straight.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
