The Hall Continues Homestand With Xavier On Friday

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- Set for its third game on a four-game home stretch, the Seton Hall women's basketball team (9-11, 2-7 BIG EAST) begins the second half of BIG EAST play and hosts Xavier (10-10, 2-7 BIG EAST) on Friday night at Walsh Gym. The 7 p.m. tip will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network via FOX Sports GO with Dave Popkin and David Gass on the call.

Tickets for Friday night's contest still remain, available HERE.

The Hall is coming off an overtime setback to BIG EAST-leading Creighton on Sunday afternoon, pushing the Bluejays to overtime before an eventual 70-60 defeat. Xavier is also coming off a loss, falling to Villanova at home on Sunday in its most recent outing. The two squads met earlier this month, a 72-64 triumph for the Musketeers in Cincinnati.

SETON HALL TIP-INS

The Hall continues a season-long four-game homestand after splitting last weekend against Providence and Creighton
The Hall is looking to avenge a loss at Xavier earlier this month, the first loss in seven games in the series with the Musketeers
JaQuan Jackson ranks fourth in the BIG EAST in scoring in her first season as a Pirate
The Pirates are 8-4 at Walsh Gym this season and 51-13 in four seasons under Anthony Bozzella at home
Kaela Hilaire is second on The Hall in scoring and ranks third in the BIG EAST in assists during her freshman campaign
The Pirates lead the BIG EAST in 3-point field goal percentage during league play with a 35.3 percent mark

MUSKETEER MINUTIAE

Xavier visits South Orange with a 10-10 record on the year and a 2-7 mark in BIG EAST play, tied with the Pirates for seventh in the conference standings
The Musketeers rank second in the conference in field goal percentage defense (37.5 percent) and lead the league in defensive rebounding (28.4/gm)
Raeshaun Gaffney leads XU and ranks among the BIG EAST leaders with 15.7 points per game
Behind her is Marquia Turner at 9.1 per game along with a team-high 4.0 assists per contest
Maddison Blackwell's is XU's top rebounder at 6.2/gm

CREIGHTON RECAP
The Pirates pushed the BIG EAST preseason co-favorite to the brink on Jan. 22, eventually falling in overtime by a score of 70-60

The Hall led early, taking a five-point advantage to the break
Creighton pushed back ahead after three quarters and led by two with 1:46 to play before a game-tying bucket from JaQuan Jackson
Jackson connected again with 1:00 to play to give The Hall the lead, before CU's Lauren Works knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer with 11.8 ticks to go
In overtime, the experienced Bluejays out-scored the Pirates 13-3 to stave off the upset bid
Jackson led The Hall with 14 points, while Lubirdia Gordon added 12 and seven rebounds

XAVIER SERIES NOTES
The Hall is 6-1 all-time against XU in a series dating back to 2013-14

The Pirates won each of the first six meetings with the Musketeers before falling at XU earlier this month
In that 72-64 setback on Jan. 4, Kaela Hilaire scored 20 points and Claire Lundberg added 17
The Hall sliced what was a 21-point deficit down to eight with a big fourth quarter but couldn't pull any closer
Xavier was led by a 33-point performance from Raeshaun Gaffney in their triumph
The last visit to Walsh Gym for Xavier came on Jan. 21, 2016 - an 82-66 victory for The Hall
After the first five match-ups in the series were all double-digit victories for The Hall, the last two meetings have been decided by single-digits

WHAT'S AHEAD
Following Friday night's match-up, the Pirates are back at Walsh Gym to host Butler on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m.