Fans crammed into Walsh Gymnasium to watch the Pirates take on No. 2 Notre Dame. The Pirates gave the crowd of 2,600, including head men's head basketball coach Kevin Willard, a good show in the first half, keeping the score to within seven.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw opted to go with a full court man-to-man press in the early part of the first half and it suffocated the Pirates, who turned the ball over on two of their first three possessions.
The Irish turned these early turnovers into transition buckets deep in the paint. Notre Dame center Natalie Achonwa turned in nine points down low, leading Notre Dame scorers in the first half.
The Seton Hall offense could not get much of anything going throughout the first ten minutes of the half, until freshman guard Tabatha Richardson-Smith gave the Pirate's offense a jolt with a 3-pointer from the corner with 11 minutes remaining.
Notre Dame continued to exploit some Seton Hall turnovers and brought their lead to 16. After coach Anne Donovan took a timeout, the Pirates were able to run a half-court offense as McGraw backed off the press.
With three minutes left in the half, Ka-Diedre Simmons drove hard to the basket and drew a foul just as her lay-up dropped, sending her to the line only down by 8. Simmons missed the free throw but was picked up by a Richardson-Smith 3-pointer on the next series. Notre Dame's Kayla McBride added a bucket to keep their lead to 35-28at the half.
With the momentum in Seton Hall's direction, the Pirates were buzzing in the locker room during halftime.
"We just had to stay up and keep playing hard," guard Brittany Morris said. "They are the number two team in the country and we had a good first half so we were right there."
Unfortunately, momentum was not enough for the Pirates. The Irish had an aggressive start to the second half and quickly widened the gap following a series that was dominated by senior Skylar Diggins.
Diggins scored the first two points of the half on a back-door layup and then got a steal on the press and found McBride in the corner for a 3-pointer. The Notre Dame defense began to smother Seton Hall again, which struggled to even get a shot off, suffering three shot clock violations.
McGraw's team began to go on a run and start to pull away from the Pirates. Morris attributed Seton Hall's struggles to, "just a little breakdown." Morris also made note that with a team that is that good there is no room for a breakdown.
With 5:55 remaining in the game McGraw gave Diggins the rest of the afternoon off and just three minutes later the Pirates found themselves down 27. The final numbers show Donovan's squad being out rebounded, 41-28, and exploited in the paint, 42-10, in an eventual 69-50 loss.
Despite what the numbers show, Donovan said she was still happy with her team's effort against such a tough ranked opponent.
"We compete hard and I think we believe we can stay in games like this," Donovan said.
The Pirates were wearing pink jerseys in honor of Kay Yow and Play4Kay Day, a benefit for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The legendary coach Yow left a significant mark on the women's game.
"She could transcend all the different groups and cliques in our game," McGraw said. "There's not a coach in the country that did not have a high regard for her."
Coach Donovan was honored to be the host of a special day honoring the coach of her 1988 Olympic team and one of her "biggest role models and mentors."
Diggins also recognized Yow's toughness as something tha "embodies everything a basketball player stands for."
Women's basketball will be back in action on Wednesday at home against Villanova at 7 p.m.
Gerard Gilberto can be reached at gerard.gilberto@student.shu.edu.
