The Seton Hall women’s basketball team took another win on Jan. 19, routing Providence by a final score of 97-55. The Pirates dominated on the floor with 14 three-pointers, along with a 43 point lead in the third quarter.
Shadeen Samuels and Alexis Lewis led the way once again for the team. Samuels had 23 points and went 9-for-11 from the floor, while Lewis had 20 points.
The Pirates were able to score 30 points off of the bench, much to the delight of head coach Tony Bozzella. He was particularly impressed with his depth.
“I can’t underestimate how important Jasmine [Smith] is to our program,” Bozzella said. “She doesn’t score a lot of points, but she passes the ball; three assists, no turnovers, tremendous defender, very unselfish. Always in a good mood she keeps the kids going, and the kid that I’m really, really, really excited about is Alexia [Allesch]. She has not gotten the opportunity early on – against Vanderbilt she did, and then, for a variety of reasons, she didn’t and now she’s back, she’s earned herself spot in the rotation. She is going to play every game and be a significant factor to us. I’m really proud of her, and that’s the plan as long as she continues to work hard. She’s a good basketball player and I think finally she’s confident in herself, and that’s just clicked in the past few weeks and I see a different player.”
Improving to a 12-7 record and 5-3 in the Big East, Bozzella is content where the team stands right now.
“A big problem with us is consistency and health, so can we stay focused and stay consistent the last five weeks of the regular season, and then obviously the weeks of the playoffs,” Bozzella said. “If we do that, we’ll be right there, we have good players. If we don’t do that then you’ve seen us lose to Villanova, get blown out by Marquette, and get our butt kicked by DePaul. We’re right on the borderline; we can be very good or not very good.”
Seton Hall was also able to score 28 points off of turnovers and had 20 second chance opportunities where they made it count. Now, the next test for the Pirates and Bozzella will be shutting down cross-town rivals, St. John’s, in similar fashion.
“We’re the primetime game if the week for women’s basketball and it says a lot about our program and that we can get it that far and St. Johns program,” Bozzella said. “I’m really proud of our program, I think we’re in a great place even before the two wins, I think the kids are really enjoying themselves here, I think they’re proud to be a Pirate as I am.”
Jenna Powell can be reached at jenna.powell@student.shu.edu. Find her on Twitter @jennap0well.
