VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Wednesday night, the Villanova Wildcats suffered a heart-breaking, 56-55 loss, to the visiting Seton Hall Pirates. With the setback, the Wildcats fall to 7-7 overall and 1-1 in BIG EAST play, while Seton Hall improves to 11-3 overall and 3-0 in league action.
Seton Hall's defense was the story in the opening quarter, as the Pirates forced Villanova into seven turnovers and 2-of-10 shooting from the field. The Pirates converted the turnovers into six points.
The Pirates made a living at the free throw line in the opening quarter going 7-of-10 from the charity stripe. Seton Hall had six different people score in the first period, including four by both I'yanna Lops and Amari Wright.
Seton Hall led 15-11 early in the second quarter, when the Pirates used a 10-2 run to open-up a 25-13 advantage. Three-point field goals by Faith Masonius and Jada Eads highlighted the Seton Hall spurt.
With all the momentum on the Pirates side, Villanova responded by finishing the quarter on an 11-2 run to cut the Seton Hall lead to 27-24 at halftime. Senior Jaliyah Green had four of the 11 points, while freshman point guard Jasmine Bascoe drained a long two just before the first half buzzer.
Trailing 34-27 early in the third quarter, Villanova got a huge lift from graduate guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy who scored seven of Villanova's 10 points during a 10-1 spurt that gave the Wildcats a 37-35 lead with 3:47 remaining. The other three points in the run came on a triple by Ryanne Allen.
Seton Hall came right back and scored the final seven points of the third quarter to take a 42-37 advantage after three. Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick highlighted the spurt scoring four of Seton Hall's seven points.
Villanova held a 47-46 advantage when Denae Carter and Bascoe connected on back-to-back jump shots to increase the Wildcat lead to 51-46 at the 2:41 mark. After Masonius split a pair at the line to make it a 51-47 game, Seton Hall forced a Wildcat turnover and made it a 51-49 game on a Bland-Fitzpatrick lay-up.
On the game's next possession, Bascoe put the Wildcats up 53-49 on a 15-foot jumper with 1:48 to play. Following a Seton Hall bucket that cut the Villanova advantage to two, Bascoe made two free throws and the Wildcats led 55-51 with 59 seconds left.
Seton Hall came up with a big shot on its next trip down the court, when Lops drained a three and Villanova led 55-54 with 47 seconds on the clock.
After Villanova was called for a five second call trying to inbound the ball at the 16 second mark, Seton Hall's Kaydan Lawson missed on a driving lay-up and Villanova's Carter was fouled going for the loose ball. Carter went to the line where she missed both foul shots.
Out of timeouts, the Pirates pushed the ball up the court and Masonius scored the game-winner on a reverse lay-up as time expired.
In the loss, Power-Cassidy led the Wildcats with a season-high 17 points, while Bascoe tallied 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Carter was the third Wildcat in double figures with 11 points to go with a team-best eight rebounds.
Masonius paced the Pirates with 17 points. Eads also reached double figures with 11 points.
For the game, Villanova was 23-of-56 from the field (41.1%), 4-of-19 from three-point range (21.1%) and 5-of-8 from the foul line (62.5%), while the Pirates shot 38.8 percent from the floor (19-of-49), 28.6 percent from long distance (6-of-21) and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-18). Seton Hall owned a 40-27 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday when the nationally ranked Connecticut Huskies visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m.
