SOUTH ORANGE – The Seton Hall Pirates (18-10, 12-7 Big East) were no match for the Villanova Wildcats (23-6, 16-4 Big East) on Thursday, falling 82-52. With the win, the Wildcats earned the season sweep over the Pirates.
The 2025-2026 iteration of the Big East Conference in women’s basketball has been interesting to say the least. While UConn has been unstoppable, the Pirates and Wildcats have done well, both sitting top three in the conference entering Thursday’s contest.
However, Villanova has proven time and time again that they should be the conference’s second representative in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Led by the second leading scorer in the Big East entering Thursday in sophomore Jasmine Bascoe, the Wildcats were confident coming off a strong win on Sunday vs. Marquette.
The first go-around between the two squads this season also went in favor of Villanova. Seton Hall was determined to get payback for their December 19 loss and earn a major win in their last home game of the regular season.
Unfortunately for the home side, it was pure domination from their rivals. It was also pure domination from one of the Big East’s best players.
Throughout the entire contest, Bascoe displayed a well-balanced and efficient game that elevated her squad to a win. The Preseason All-Big East Team member finished the night with 28 points, five rebounds, seven assists and a career-high eight steals. With the season Bascoe and the Wildcats are having, the Canadian guard will be included in this season’s All-Big East team.
“She [Bascoe] knows exactly where she wants to get her shots from,” Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella said postgame. “She gets to where she wants, she makes the plays and she’s a tremendous leader out there.”
Defensively, the Wildcats were relentless against a Seton Hall squad who came off a season-low in turnovers vs St. John’s. Villanova’s 14 steals were a big reason for Thursday’s scoreline.
On the offensive side of things for Seton Hall, nothing was working for a squad already hampered by injuries. Even with decent scoring performances from junior guard Savannah Catalon (14 points) and freshman guard Zahara Bishop (19 points), the thin roster was unable to aid the two guards. Returning to the turnover issue, that was a major problem for the Pirates all evening as they finished with 22 turnovers.
“To me it’s incredible that we’re even in these games against St. John’s, beating Xavier, destroying DePaul. Like how we are doing that? I don’t even know. Losing Ari [Woodard] was terrible, losing Shai [Pinkney] is terrible, obviously losing Jada [Eads] way back is terrible… it adds up. We got to figure it out to try to be competitive on Sunday.”
The injury bug once again affected the Pirates as in the fourth quarter, freshman forward Natalia Hall-Rosa left the game after diving for the ball at half-court. Bozzella stated after the game that she was going to get X-rays.
With key pieces like Jada Eads and others out, things don’t look great for the Pirates as the Big East Tournament is fast approaching.
The Pirates conclude their Big East regular season on Sunday when they travel to Indianapolis to face Butler. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on Peacock.
