With the loss of last season’s top scorer as well as other experienced players, Seton Hall women’s basketball’s Anthony Bozzella took a rare gamble on untapped potential in his 13th year as head coach—and it paid off.
While also going all-in on the returning Preseason All-BIG EAST backcourt duo of sophomore Jada Eads and junior Savannah Catalon, two of six returnees to this year’s roster, Bozzella and his coaching staff recruited eight newcomers to the team in five freshmen and three transfers.
“I am super excited to bring in such a talented—and most importantly, wonderful and respectful—group of student-athletes for 2025-2026,” Bozzella said in an Instagram post ahead of the season. “Combined with our returnees, my staff and I are thrilled for the vast potential of this group.”
This group led the Lady Pirates to an 18-11 regular season record, and 12-8 record in conference play good enough for a repeat at third-place in the standings and a first-round bye in the BIG EAST Tournament, which began March 6.
The No. 3 Pirates will play the following day, when they face No. 6 St. John’s at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut in the quarterfinal-round on March 7 at 9:30 p.m..
Nonconference Play and SHU’s Cold Fourth Quarters
A mix of some returning but mostly new players, the Pirates seemed to be meshing through the season’s first five games, when they emerged to a 5-0 start. Texas transfer Jordana Codio, Eads and Catalon were all named to the BIG EAST’s Weekly Honor Roll in the season’s first three weeks, respectively.
While undefeated in November, things took an unexpected turn for the worse the following month. It all started on Dec. 2, when The Hall fell at Princeton after the Tigers outscored the Pirates 22-13 in the fourth quarter—the first signs of a recurrent issue for SHU early in the season.
The Hall bounced back with a 70-51 home win over Butler two days later, though, in their lone game of conference play of the early-season behind a 25-point, 13-rebound double-double from graduate forward Mariana Valenzuela. One of the three players who transferred to SHU in the offseason, Valenzuela was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team at the end of the season.
“She works every day,” Bozzella said postgame about Valenzuela, who was named to the BIG EAST’s Weekly Honor Roll following her performance. “[She] doesn’t say a word. She’s only been here two months [and] as a person, she’s right up there with all of them [SHU’s greats].”
What followed, though, was a two-game losing streak, with the Pirates first falling at North Carolina State on Dec. 7, then to Columbia on Dec. 9 in their single-worst loss of the season. The Hall led the Lions for almost the entire game, except for the very end. After another cold offensive fourth quarter where the Pirates shot just 2-for-16 (12.5%) from the field and scored just eight points, SHU were still leading by one with just 8.7 seconds left in the contest.
But it was a last-second defensive mistake that ultimately cost SHU the game. With four fouls to give and the Pirates planning on intentionally fouling, the Lions inbounded the ball—but no foul came, and Columbia’s Perri Page split a double-team to score a layup that gave the Lions a 54-53 lead with under a second remaining.
Having lost their last two, and three of their last four, SHU returned to winning ways by closing out their nonconference schedule with a win over Auburn on Dec. 14, then Washington State on Dec. 16 in a two-game homestand (despite more cold fourth quarters in both).
“We gotta figure this out, little by little, because now it’s ‘big boy time,’” Bozzella said postgame against Washington State. “We’re in the BIG EAST, and we’ll play two of the hardest BIG EAST games we’ll play all year next week: at Villanova, then at Creighton—I mean, you can’t get any harder than that.”
Strong Start to Conference Play
Entering conference play with a 7-3 record, and a lone conference win already over Butler, SHU proved their nonconference struggles were a fluke by winning three of their next four games.
After falling 72-55 at Villanova on Dec. 19, the Pirates stayed on the road to earn their first victory at Creighton in more than a decade three days later behind 23 points from Valenzuela and a career-high 21 points from senior guard Shailyn Pinkney off the bench.
A four-year Pirate, “Baby Shay” shot a season-high 8-for-10 (80%) from the field and 3-of-5 (60%) from 3-point-land.
“[As a coach,] you love all your players, but I have a little extra special love for her,” Bozzella said about Pinkney after the Pirates’ contest against Providence on Jan. 8. “She’s a wonderful person, and in this day and age when everyone wants to leave and leave and leave, she’s stayed with it the whole time.”
Catalon then joined in on the Pirates’ scoring fun by dropping a season-high 24 points, 19 of which came in the second half, in a 75-55 win over Xaiver on Dec. 28.
“She’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached,” Bozzella said postgame about Catalon, who was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team and All-Defensive Team at the end of the season. “No one tries harder, no one wants to win more, no one’s a better human being.”
Also scoring a majority of her points late against the Musketeers was Valenzuela, who scored 10 of her 19 total points in the second half to cap off a 2-0 week for the Pirates that earned her the BIG EAST Player of the Week, and Catalon her third Weekly Honor Roll nod of the season.
With a 45-point win over Georgetown—the program’s largest ever margin of victory against a BIG EAST opponent—on New Years Eve, the Pirates closed out the calendar year on a three-game win streak and a 10-4 overall record, while also 4-1 so far in conference play.
Midseason Success Through Adversity
Midseason, SHU put together their best stretch of the year, winning four-straight games over a two-week span—although it was bookended by losses to No. 1 UConn.
Granted, the Huskies were the single-best team in college basketball, finishing the season a perfect 31-0 hardly without breaking a sweat, so The Hall were hardly fazed themselves when they suffered a 36-point loss to them in Hartford, Connecticut on Jan. 3 and a 40-point loss in South Orange three weeks later, although they did lead the Huskies for 4:13 in the first quarter—the longest UConn had trailed any opponent all season—a win in itself.
But in between those two games was when the Pirates played some of their best basketball to date—although also losing one of their best players for the rest of the season in the process. After wins at Providence on Jan. 9 behind a Weekly Honor Roll-earning 17 point performance from Codio, then over Marquette on Jan. 14 behind a career-high 26 points from Valenzuela, The Hall traveled to Chicago to face DePaul on Jan. 17.
In a back-and-forth contest with the Blue Demons through three quarters, SHU ultimately pulled away in the fourth for the 86-77 win—but not without the loss of Eads, who was forced to leave the game early after suffering a lower-body leg injury, and not returning to the game.
Ahead of the Pirates’ next game against Providence on Jan. 20, SHU and Bozzella took to social media to announce the devastating news that Eads would miss the remainder of the season due to the injury.
With Eads on the sidelines rather than on the court, The Hall still managed to win their fourth-straight in a 73-57 season-sweeping win over the Friars.
Following their second defeat to UConn on Jan. 24, SHU were 20 games into the season with a 14-6 record, and 8-3 in conference play.
Young Talent Blossoms Mid- to Late-Season
Luckily for SHU, with the fall of Eads came the emergence of two standout freshmen guards in Zahara Bishop and Ari Woodard, and one sophomore in Ja’Kahla Craft.
The same game Eads got injured, Bishop had a breakout performance, scoring a career-high 21 points while shooting 8-for-10 (80%) and 3-for-4 (75%) from deep. The Minneapolis, Minnesota native followed that performance with 12 points in the Pirates’ second win over Providence on her way to earning her first BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honor of the season.
Bishop, however, struggled in her next four games, as did the Pirates. SHU earned a season-sweeping win over Georgetown on Jan. 29, before a two-game losing streak to Creighton then at St. John’s.
Although the Pirates fell to The Red Storm on Feb. 7, Woodard had a breakout game of her own. Having not logged more than 11 minutes in a game so far in the season, in 15 minutes at St. John’s, Woodard scored a career-high 11 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter.
Also playing in the game was Craft, who had eight points, eight rebounds and four steals in the first start of her collegiate career.
It was Bishop, Woodard and Craft who led the Pirates to a bounce-back 2-0 record the following week with wins at Marquette and over DePaul. Earning their first ever season-sweep of the Golden Eagles, and just their second-ever win at the Al McGuire Center, Bishop paced SHU with a game-high 20 points, half of which was scored in the fourth quarter.
Woodard and Craft also made contributions in the game, Woodard playing a then season-high 27 minutes and finishing with four assists, while Craft grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds in 32 minutes.
But Woodard and Craft saved their biggest contributions of the season for the Pirates’ next game against DePaul on Valentine's Day. In just the first start of her collegiate career, Woodard recorded 11 assists—the most by any Pirate this season.
Meanwhile, Craft had a scoring performance for the ages: in her third-ever start, Craft scored a career-high 26 points—all without missing a single shot, going a perfect 11-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Craft broke the program-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 unmatched efficiency earned her a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, while Bishop's strong play on the road, this time at Marquette, earned her her second BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honor.
Injury-Plagued Late-Season Woes
At 17-8, 11-5 with just four games left in the regular season, the Pirates were on pace to for a 20-win season—until injuries got in the way.
Fresh off her record-breaking scoring performance against DePaul, Craft was wheeled off the court in the second quarter of SHU’s next game at Xavier on Feb. 18 after an apparent knee injury. Like Eads, she did not return to the game and was ruled out for the rest of the season days later.
Although they completed the season-sweeping, BIG EAST bye clinching win over the Musketeers, it would stand as SHU’s last win of the regular season. The Pirates closed the regular season out on a 3-game losing streak as injuries continued to accumulate.
After falling to St. John’s on Senior Day, SHU ended the week 1-1, with Bishop earning her third and final Freshman of the Week honor, and Catalon her fifth and final Weekly Honor Roll of the season as well.
What followed was a winless final week of the regular season, starting with a 30-point loss to Villanova in The Hall’s final home game of the season. Not only did the Pirates fall, but they also suffered the loss of freshman forward Natalia Hall-Rosa, who sustained a hand injury in the fourth quarter and did not return to the game.
With Hall-Rosa’s injury, the Pirates entered their regular season finale at Butler with five injured players: Eads, Craft, Pinkney (who suffered an injury on Feb. 11), Woodard (also hurt on Feb. 22) and now Hall-Rosa.
“Our lack of players, it just showed,” Bozzella said postgame. “Kids playing out of position, kids are trying hard. I stood out there and this is not the team that was 18-9, 12-6 (BIG EAST) that we put together. A shell of it right now. We’ve got to try and find a way to get back.”
Despite a career-high 27 points from Codio—the most by any Pirate this season—SHU fell to the Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 1 for their third-straight loss.
The loss was the least of their concerns, however, as their rotten injury luck late in the season continued early in the game, with Catalon leaving the game early after taking a shot to the face in the first quarter and not returning.
Luckily, Catalon and the rest of the Pirates had a week of rest before their first game in the BIG EAST Tournament on March 7, where anything is possible—the Pirates did, after all, lead UConn for longer than any other BIG EAST opponent this season.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
