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© Joey Khan Photography[/caption]
The Seton Hall women’s basketball team picked up an 83-74 road victory over No. 23 (AP) DePaul on Friday afternoon at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago, Ill.
The win improved the Pirates 17-4, 7-3, one game behind DePaul in the conference standings. The Blue Demons now stand at 16-7, 8-2 with the loss.
The Pirates came out of the gates looking as if they had something to prove. The Blue Demons embarrassed the Hall on their home floor in early January. Leading by as many as 32, DePaul came away with an 86-74 victory that was the first of three consecutive losses for Seton Hall. After trailing 4-3 early in the game, the Blue and White used an 18-2 run to close out the opening quarter with a 21-6 advantage.
Much like their first matchup, the second quarter was all Blue Demons. DePaul went on a 15-0 run of their own to cut the Seton Hall lead to 35-28 at the half.
The Blue Demons spent the rest of the second half trying to shrink the deficit. However the Seton Hall defense, ranked first in the Big East in opponent field goal percentage, held stout, restricting the Blue Demons to 36.5 percent shooting from the field. DePaul was able to come within three points multiple times, but Seton Hall had an answer every time. The Hall never gave up the lead.
The star of the game for the Pirates was Aleesha Powell. The guard was lights out all afternoon, racking up 24 points on 9-10 shooting including 5-5 from beyond the arc.
Last week’s Big East Player of the Week, Tabitha Richardson-Smith, added 20 points for the Hall, extending her consecutive game streak of 20 or more points to six.
The Pirates were able to win despite losing the turnover battle by a 15-7 margin. Largely thanks to their dominance in the paint and on the glass. Seton Hall outrebounded DePaul 43-35 and outscored the Blue Demons 44-24 down low.
Seton Hall will play the second game of its current two-game road swing on Sunday, Jan. 31 as SHU travels to Milwaukee, Wis. to face the Marquette Golden Eagles. Tip is set for 3:00 p.m.
Matthew Zeigafuse can be reached at matthew.zeigafuse@student.shu.edu or on twitter @mattzeigafuse.
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