After starting the season 7-5, the Seton Hall women's basketball team has lost its last seven games. The losing streak has dropped the team's record to 7-12, and the Pirates are winless in conference play at 0-5.
"We knew we had to better our offensive game to beat the better contenders, but when we've played those better contenders, we've noticed we've gravitated away from our disciplined defense," junior Brittany Morris said. "And that's what's causing a lot of the losing."
While struggling of late, the Pirates will face another struggling team on Sunday when they host the Syracuse Orange in Walsh Gymnasium.
The Orange come into the game with a record of 12-7 and 1-4 in Big East play but have lost three of their last four games.
During their seven-game losing streak, the Hall has lost by an average of 16.7 points. For the season, the team is scoring 56.9 points per game while shooting 37.1 percent.
"Well, you can't speak for everyone because everyone doesn't stay motivated," Morris said. "But we try to meet up as a team and basically search for who's on board and who's not. Those who aren't, you just have to keep moving on without them because there are still some people who love this game, better themselves and the team."
Leading the Pirates are senior Jasmine Crew and Morris. Crew leads the team with 19.1 points per game while Morris is second on the team, averaging 12.6 points a game.
Syracuse averages 70.9 points per game despite shooting an almost identical percentage to the Pirates at 37.2 percent from the field. The Orange are led by senior Iasie Hemingway and juniors Kayla Hemingway and Carmen Tyson-Thomas, who all rank in the team's top three in points and rebounding.
"It's just about being disciplined," Morris said. "We have to set in our mind that we want to play defense; we want to be that defensive team; we want to make sure that we're not trying to make short cuts when it comes to the defensive aspect of the game."
In the all-time series, the Hall holds the lead with a record of 28-23, but recently the series has been dominated by Syracuse.
Since 2005 the Orange are 7-2 against the Hall and have also won four straight.
Last season, the teams met once in the regular season and again in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
In the first meeting in Syracuse, N.Y., the Orange defeated the Pirates 75-50. By halftime, Syracuse was leading by 18 points to cruise to the 25-point win behind the play of Hemingway, who led the team with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds. Pirates sophomore Jazzmine Johnson led the Hall with 10 points.
At the Big East Tournament, the Hall kept the score closer at the half, trailing 33-24. However, after the break it was all Syracuse with the Orange outscoring the Pirates 41-20 in the second half to earn the 74-44 win. Once again Hemingway led the Orange with 17 points while no player scored in double figures for the Pirates.
Following Syracuse, the Hall faces the University of South Florida on Wednesday on the road at 7 p.m.
Stephen Valenti can be reached at stephen.valenti@student.shu.edu.
Krissy Wrobel contributed to this report.
