2015 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals Preview

Game #1: #1 Seton Hall (26-4, 15-3 Big East) vs #8 Marquette (9-21, 4-14 Big East)

When: 12pm Central
Audio/Visual: Live stats here
Season Series: Tied at 1-1

How They Got Here: Marquette picked up a 78-75 win over Providence yesterday afternoon in the 8/9 game.  The Golden Eagles closed the game on an 11-2 run capped off by a block and a pair of free throws from Chelsie Butler to extend the score to its final mark.  The senior from Minerva, Ohio, helped extend her college career with a powerful 17 points and six rebounds, but Butler wasn't even the star performer for the Golden Eagles on the day.  Freshman Kenisha Bell poured in 21 points and added six rebounds and three assists, while Arlesia Morse had 12 of her 16 points after intermission and yanked down a massive rebound with 27 seconds left that ended up sending Bell to the line to give Marquette the lead for good.

Seton Hall, on the other hand, is here due to winning a tiebreaker with DePaul to earn the #1 overall seed in the tournament.  The Pirates were resurgent this season under Big East Coach Of The Year Tony Bozzella, finishing 26-4 and riding a four game winning streak coming into this game.  The last team to beat SHU this season?  Why, that would be Marquette, who picked up a 73-30 victory on Senior Day.

Let's turn it over to the Big East for a preview of this game:

Game #2: #4 St. John's (20-9, 11-7) vs #5 Creighton (17-12, 10-8)

When: 2:30pm Central
Audio/Visual: Live stats here.
Season Series: Tied at 1-1

How They Got Here: St. John's earned themselves the four seed by themselves, while Creighton won a tiebreaker with Butler to get the fifth seed in the field.

This season series is a weird one.  It's not that both teams won on the road, it's that both wins were blowouts.  St. John's shot 74% in the second half in Omaha to leave with a 61-38 win.  That was the lowest output of the season for the Bluejays by a wide margin, as they scored at least 50 points in every other game.

Then, back in NYC a little less than a month later, Creighton was victorious, 75-50.  The Jays shot 63% behind the three point line in that contest, as they took a 10 point lead inside of the first four minutes and led by at least 20 points for almost all of the second half.

So, yeah, who knows what the heck will happen when these two clash in Chicago?

How about another Big East video preview?

Game #3: #2 DePaul (23-7, 15-3) vs #7 Xavier (17-13, 8-10)

When: 6pm Central
Audio/Visual: Live stats here.
Season Series: DePaul won, 2-0

How They Got Here: Due to two losses to Seton Hall in the regular season, DePaul lost the tiebreaker for the #1 seed and had to settle for the second spot.  Xavier defeated Georgetown on Saturday afternoon in the first round, 70-67.  Aliyah Zantt had her first career double-double on 18 points and 10 rebounds, including hitting three of her four free throw attempts in the final 16 seconds to ice the game for the Musketeers.  Xavier never trailed in the second half, although the game was tied on three different occasions, including with 3:46 remaining when Leah Schaefer drained a layup to give XU the lead for good.

The Blue Demons won two very similar games between these two squads this season.  The final scores: 84-61 in Chicago and 87-63 in Cincinnati.  In the two games, five different Blue Demons managed at least double digits in points, including a 32 point performance from Big East Player of the Year Brittany Hrynko in the game at Xavier on February 8th.  In that one, Hrynko was 8-13 behind the three point line, so watch out for that one, Musketeers.

And now, your Big East video preview:

Game #4: #3 Villanova (18-12, 12-6) vs #6 Butler (14-15, 10-8)

When: 8:30pm Central
Audio/Visual: Live stats here.
Season Series: Tied at 1-1

How They Got Here: Villanova finished as runner up to the co-champions of Seton Hall and DePaul with their final record of 12-6 and they come in on a two game winning streak.  Butler had a chance at a tiebreaker for the #4 seed, but they suffered a 60-49 loss to St. John's on the final day of the regular season that gave that spot to the Red Storm.

Each team won in their respective barn this season.  The first game between the two was in Indianapolis and ended favoring the Bulldogs, 72-58.  Ijeoma Uchendu and Belle Obert both posted double-doubles for Butler in that one, but it was 25 points from Loryn Goodwin that led the team to victory.  Goodwin barely missed her own double-double with a nine rebound outing, and the four assists were nice, too.

In the return bout, Villanova came away with a 63-52 win.  Uchendu had another double-double, but the Wildcats were able to hold Goodwin to just four points on 2-9 shooting.  Caroline Coyer had 21 points to top the score sheet for VU, powered by a 4-6 outing behind the three point arc.  The final score on that one is slightly misleading, as the Bulldogs started fouling with less than a minute to go, which is how Villanova got their only 10 point lead of the game.

And one last video preview for you: