WBB Notes - 1.25 Update
Closing Out The First Half
Conference play reaches the halfway point on Sunday for all 10 BIG EAST women’s basketball squads who will all take the court in their ninth league game of the season. An incredible six-way tie for second place will be split in half by the end of the day as all six squads have a game against a team they’re currently tied with. Included in that 5-3 bunch is St. John’s and Seton Hall, who meet at 6:30 p.m. ET in South Orange, N.J., in the fourth annual FOX All-Access College Hoops as head coaches Joe Tartamella and Anthony Bozzella will don microphones in a commercial-free broadcast on FS1. Prior to that nightcap, fellow second-place squads Butler and Creighton meet in Omaha at 1 p.m., and Villanova visits Marquette at 3 p.m., with both games streaming on the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by SoFi. Also at 1 p.m., Providence and Xavier return to national televisions screens as the two squads will battle on FS2. Rounding out the day’s action, Georgetown, which is knotted with the Musketeers in the standings, will look to deal No. 11/12 DePaul its first BIG EAST loss of the season, 3 p.m. on BEDN. The Blue Demons are the lone unbeaten squad in the league and currently have a three-game lead over the second-place logjam.
Why We’re Watching …
Xavier at Providence, 1 p.m. (FS2): The Friars have suffered three single-digit losses in their last four outings while the Musketeers have taken a trio of second-place BIG EAST squads down to the wire. Both teams have deceptive conference records as they have the talent to turn things around and hope to start that trend on Sunday. On display will be two of the brightest post players in the BIG EAST – Xavier’s A’riana Gray and Providence’s Mary Baskerville. Gray lists second in conference play with a 19.8 scoring average and third in rebounding at 8.6 boards per game. Baskerville is just behind Gray in rebounding in fourth with 8.1 per game, while posting the league’s top field goal percentage through the first eight games, making 54.9 percent of her attempts towards a 13.6 scoring average.
Butler at Creighton, 1 p.m. (Twitter | YouTube | Caffeine): Both teams escaped with single-digit wins on Friday against teams below them in the standings and will look to remain in second place with a win on Sunday. With BIG EAST leading scorer Jaylyn Agnew sidelined, Temi Carda stepped up for the Bluejays on Friday, scoring in double figures for the seventh time in the last eight outings with a game-high 26 points against Xavier. Oumou Toure scored the lion’s share on Friday for the Bulldogs at Providence, but Kristen Spolyar is the player to watch as the senior guard is averaging 18.0 points per game in league action.
Villanova at Marquette, 3 p.m. (Twitter | YouTube | Caffeine): Two of the most underestimated teams entering the season, the Wildcats have gotten a big boost from rookie Maddie Siegrist, who remains the league’s top overall scorer at 20.2 points over her first 19 collegiate contests. After getting picked ninth in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll, Marquette is a win away from finishing the first half of league play in a tie for second place, thanks to the progression of Selena Lott and Lauren Van Kleunen. Lott is averaging 17.1 points in BIG EAST play to Van Kleunen’s 12.3 clip, compared to 9.0 and 3.8 a season ago.
Georgetown at 11/12 DePaul, 3 p.m. (Twitter | YouTube | Caffeine): The Hoyas have a tall task in facing the conference unbeaten Blue Demons, who haven’t lost a game at McGrath-Phillips Arena this season. GU stunned DePaul on its home court back in 2018, but the Blue Demons have won all three meetings since, including both of last year’s five-point decisions. Georgetown will look for Taylor Barnes to shrug off a quiet afternoon against Marquette on Friday and look more like the player who scored 26 with six assists at Seton Hall earlier this month. Conversely, DePaul will look to see more 30-point outings for Sonya Morris, who drained five triples to lead the Blue Demons past Villanova on Friday.
St. John’s at Seton Hall, 6:30 p.m. (FS1 All-Access): One of the top rivalries in the BIG EAST will be on full display on Sunday night on FS1. In addition to the coaching personalities that are sure to excite, the game itself is full of drama. After Seton Hall swept St. John’s during the 2018-19 regular season, St. John’s bounced the Pirates from the 2019 BIG EAST Tournament in emphatic fashion. Some of the key players from those matchups a year ago are back, specifically in The Hall’s Shadeen Samuels and the Red Storm’s Qadashah Hoppie. Samuels averaged 19.7 points and 8.0 rebounds against St. John’s last year, including a 33-point outburst in the regular-season finale. Hoppie averaged 12.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the 18-19 series, including a 19-point showing in the season’s first meeting.
Up Next
Sunday
Xavier at Providence, 1 p.m.*!
Butler at Creighton, 1 p.m.*^
Villanova at Marquette, 3 p.m.*^
Georgetown at 11/12 DePaul, 3 p.m. *^
St. John’s at Seton Hall, 6:30 p.m.*#
All times Eastern
*BIG EAST contest
^BEDN
#FS1 All-Access
!FS2