Second Half Surge Leads The Hall Past Fairfield

Thursday, December 21

South Orange, N.J.

11 a.m.

Seton Hall University

8-3

Fairfield

3-8

Fairfield

Seton Hall

12/21/2017 2:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF BOX HIGHLIGHTS

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Behind a huge 28-point effort from JaQuan Jackson (Killeen, Texas) and a big second half, the Seton Hall women's basketball team (8-3) closed its non-conference slate strong with an 80-61 victory over Fairfield (3-8) on Thursday morning. The contest was The Hall's annual "Kids Day" with a capacity crowd of 1,655 on hand including over 700 local school children.

The Hall led by only one at the break, but out-scored Fairfield by a margin of 42-24 in an explosive second half. Jackson scored 18 of her season-high 28 points in the second half, including 14 in the fourth quarter. The redshirt senior shot 11-of-13 from the floor and was 5-of-6 from 3-point range as one of four Pirates to score in double-figures.

Turning Points
After opening the contest with a 21-9 edge in the first quarter, The Hall let Fairfield back in the game as the Stags went for 28 points in the second frame and took their first lead of the day at 37-35 late in the period. The Pirates were able to reclaim the lead moments before the break, getting a 3-pointer from Deja Winters (Cleveland, Ohio) to take a 38-37 advantage to the half.

The Hall used the momentum from Winters' 3-pointer to come out firing in the third quarter, opening the period on a 10-0 run capped by an Inja Butina (Zagreb, Croatia) trifecta to push the lead back to 48-37 and force a Fairfield timeout at 6:11 of the third. The Stags hung around and got back within five at the start of the fourth quarter, but nine-straight points from Jackson early in the fourth stretched the lead back to double-digits for good at 62-48.

Head Coach Anthony Bozzella on the Result:
"I thought the second half we played tremendously on the defensive end. I really give [JaQuan Jackson] a lot of credit for the bounce-back game she had. She's a captain of this program and she really led by example today and was a big reason for our win.

Inside The Numbers

The Pirates shot 53.4 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range, knocking down 10-of-20 from 3-point range
The Hall finished with a 32-27 edge in the rebounding column, led by eight caroms from Donnaizha Fountain (Roxbury, Mass.) and six from Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.)
Seton Hall notched 21 assists on 31 field goals, including six dimes from Butina and five for Fountain
The Hall won the turnover battle, 21-17, and out-scored Fairfield 24-13 off turnover and 12-0 in fast break points
The Pirates finished the day with 11 steals and five blocked shots

News and Notes

In addition to Jackson in double-figures, Taylor Brown (Paterson, N.J.) finished with 11 points while Butina and Fountain both had 10
In her first action since Dec. 8, Butina played 31 minutes and finished with 10 points, six assists and two steals
The Hall shot 50 percent or better in a game for the third time this year and hit double-digit 3-pointers for the third time as well
The Pirates have notched double-digit steals in eight contests this season
The Hall improves to 12-3 all-time against Fairfield and 11-0 against MAAC foes under Bozzella
Jackson's 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) performance from the field is the second best shooting day with at least 10 attempts in program history and best since Danielle Golay went 10-of-11 against Miami on Jan. 3, 1998
The 20-point outing was Jackson's first this season and the seventh of her career

What's Next
The Pirates return to the hardwood to open up BIG EAST play on Thursday, Dec. 28 at DePaul.