By: Adam Purvis ~Staff Writer~

While many of us were catching rays, traveling on AB trips or just trying to catch up on our sleep in order to get ready for the struggle that is the end of the semester, the women’s basketball team ended their season in the Big East Tournament on Mar. 5, the first Saturday of break.

In the opening round of the Big East Tournament, the team squared off against the No. 9 seed Butler Bulldogs. Xavier, the No. 8 seed, fell in a narrow loss against Butler at 47-48. The first half saw a rocky start from the Musketeers as they were held to a season low score of 15 points and .207 field-goal percentage. In the third quarter, this would change. With the Musketeers more than doubling their score and holding the Bulldogs to nine points, they would regain the lead with a score of 36-33. There were six lead changes and two ties in the fourth quarter with Xavier taking their last lead at 47-46 from a three pointer by senior Aliyah Zantt. Overall, there were 15 ties and 5 lead changes.

Xavier had three scoring attempts in the last 14 seconds of the match in order to take the win but could not come out on top. Junior Raeshaun Gaffney had a layup blocked right at the 14 second mark. Xavier had to foul but recovered the ball after two missed free-throws by Brittany Ward. Senior Briana Glover tried to score with this opportunity but was blocked. Gaffney followed with an off-balanced shot as the clock expired but could not sink it.

The women’s basketball team ended their season at 17-13 overall and 8-10 in the conference without being able to make it into the NCAA tournament. They played a strong season with wins against opponents such as Villanova, Marquette and, proudly, UC while even climbing to second in the Big East standings at one point.