The Musketeers will look to end the regular season with a win over Georgetown
by curt berry, staff writer
Ar’iana Gray led Xavier with 23 points and eight rebounds in a road loss against Butler on Tuesday, while contributing 17 points in the loss against Seton Hall. Gray’s Senior Night is Sunday against Georgetown.
After a rough performance against UConn, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, Xavier women’s basketball showed improvement in a 73-61 road loss at Butler. On Wednesday, the Musketeers suffered another defeat, losing 108-65 against Seton Hall It was their sixth loss in a row.
Against Butler, Senior A’riana Gray, the season’s second leading scorer for Xavier, showed her dominance with a solid 23 point performance, sinking down two three-pointers as well. She added eight rebounds (three of which were offensive) and a steal.
Nia Clark, the team leader in points, added to the scoring with 13 points. She knocked down four three-pointers, a steal and a block in her performance.
The 30% three-point shooting for the Muskies might not be great, but they weren’t able to get a single one to fall against UConn, who has arguably the best defense in the league. Clark and Gray’s performance came up a bit short against Butler’s shooters. The Bulldogs’ Upe Atosu and Genesis Parker were too much for Xavier.
Atosu drilled a couple threes, but what was most impressive was her performance at the free throw line. She went 10-11 from the charity stripe and finished with 23 points on the day, as well as a couple offensive rebounds.
Genesis Parker came out with a solid performance, putting up 18 points and four assists.
Four out of the five Butler starters finished in double digits. What hurt Xavier in this game was that the Bulldogs shot 85% from the free throw line, picking up 16 points there.
This comes as a bit of a surprise because Xavier doubled Butler in offensive rebounds with 15, but was not able to get to the line from there.
On Wednesday night, Xavier got out to an 11-8 lead over Seton Hall, but the Pirates outscore Xavier 28-16 the rest of the first quarter.
The Pirates jumped out on a 7-0 run to start the second quarter, and also outscored the Musketeers 23-14 in the frame to take a 53-30 lead into the half.
The Seton Hall lead grew to 61-34, and Seton Hall ended the third quarter ahead 83-45.
In the fourth quarter, Xavier shot 57%, but Seton Hall stayed hot, shooting 69%. While Xavier scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t enough as Seton Hall secured a 108-65 victory.
Xavier’s last game of the regular season is Sunday against Georgetown. It is the Play4Kay Pink game for both schools. It is also Senior Night for the Musketeers, who will honor three players.
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