Seton Hall women’s basketball defeated the Washington State University (WSU) Cougars, 74-65, at Walsh Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Before the start of the season, WSU was picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference (WCC) Preseason Coaches Poll after they went 14-6 in conference play and 21-14 overall last season. Injuries, however, have prevented the Cougars from starting the season as they had hoped. Entering this game, they stand at just 1-10, while having lost their last four games in a row.
But after the game, SHU head coach Anthony Bozzella admitted that the Cougars are way better than their record suggests—and that he was the most nervous he’s been all season ahead of their matchup.
“They’re not a one win team,” Bozzella said. “I mean, look who they’ve played: Stanford, BYU—BYU won at the buzzer—and they’re extremely well-coached.”
“I knew it was going to be a very hard game,” Bozzella added. “I was telling my daughters, this was as nervous as I’ve been all year before a game, because I knew they were good, and I knew if they shot a decent percentage from three…we would have a hard time.”
Bozzella was right to be nervous about the game, especially its fourth quarter, when yet another late-game collapse felt imminent. After SHU led 30-10 at the end of the first quarter, 44-29 at halftime, and by as much as 25 points in the third quarter, the game’s momentum started to shift in WSU’s favor in the final period.
After scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter, the Cougars managed to cut the deficit to single-digits for the first time since the game’s opening minutes, as the Pirates led 61-53 with most of the quarter left. Minutes later, WSU junior guard Eleonora Villa scored a left-handed layup to make it a one possession game, SHU still leading 68-65 with just over a minute to play.
As has been typical as of late for SHU, it was another fourth quarter where their offense went ice cold while their opponents heated up. In the fourth, the Pirates shot just 2-for-10 (20%) from the field and 1-for-4 (25%) from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Cougars shot 8-for-19 (42.1%) overall and 2-for-6 (33.3%) from deep, outscoring SHU 19-13 in the quarter.
“It’s a big concern,” Bozzella said about the Pirates’ recent fourth quarter struggles after the game. “It’s another game where we led for the whole time, and it was a one-possession game at the end—that can’t happen.”
Fortunately for him, though, WSU turnovers down the stretch and clutch free-throw shooting from the Pirates—who went 8-for-10 (80%) at the line in the fourth—were enough to prevent a late Cougars comeback, as SHU held on for the 74-65 win.
In just her second career start, freshman guard Zahara Bishop led the Pirates with career highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds—earning her the first double-double of her collegiate career. Bozzella said after the game that Bishop’s inclusion in the starting lineup and increased minutes gives the team “a little more offensive punch.”
After scoring nine clutch fourth quarter points in Sunday’s win over Auburn and being named to her second BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll of the season on Monday, junior guard Savannah Catalon followed Bishop with 15 points of her own, as well as three steals. She leads the Pirates this season with 14.3 points per game.
With the win, the Pirates finished their nonconference schedule with a 7-3 record, which is tied for the fifth best in the BIG EAST. Just ahead of them in the standings are the 8-2 Villanova University Wildcats, whom SHU will face on Friday at Finneran Pavilion in their second game of conference play this season.
Ahead of their matchup with the Wildcats, Bozzella expressed that the Pirates still have plenty to work on as they enter a challenging stretch of conference play next week.
“We gotta figure this out, little by little, because now it’s ‘big boy time,’” Bozzella said. “We’re in the BIG EAST, and we’ll play two of the hardest BIG games we’ll play all year next week: at Villanova, then at Creighton—I mean, you can’t get any harder than that.”
“So we’ve got to play a lot better,” Bozzella added. “Otherwise, we’re gonna be in big trouble.”
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
