Redshirt sophomore Tenley Dowell looks to get a pass around a UConn defender on Jan. 12. Dowell had a career-high 17 points against Seton Hall on Feb. 6. Photo by Francie Wilson.

JACK GUTZLER | SPORTS REPORTER | jgutzler@butler.edu 

The Butler women’s basketball team fell to Seton Hall 72-56 Sunday at Hinkle in a rather competitive matchup. 

Tenley Dowell led the way for Butler with a career-high 17 points, while shooting 5-11 from the field and hitting three 3-pointers. Dowell was Butler’s only scorer in double figures, however, the Dawgs did see eight different players score throughout the game.

Andra Espinoza-Hunter led Seton Hall in scoring with 21 points on 8-13 shooting. Including Espinoza-Hunter, the Pirates had five different players score in double figures.

While the scoreboard may not necessarily indicate it, the game was close and competitive throughout. Butler led 42-41 at one point in the third quarter, and only trailed 55-48 at the end of the third quarter. However, Seton Hall outscored Butler 17-8 in the fourth quarter, allowing them to pull away and get the win. 

Seton Hall shot 6-11 in the fourth quarter, while Butler only shot 2-14 – a difference-maker in the ultimate outcome of the game.

Butler was able to outrebound Seton Hall both on the offensive glass and defensive glass, pulling down 32 total rebounds compared to Seton Hall’s 30 total rebounds. Tenley Dowell and Celena Taborn were Butler’s top rebounders, pulling down 9 and 6 rebounds, respectively.

Despite having an advantage on offensive rebounding, Seton Hall outscored Butler 16-8 in terms of second chance points.

However, shooting the ball was where the two teams differed from each other the most. Seton Hall shot 48.3% from the field, while Butler only shot 39.6% from the field. Outside of Dowell, Butler’s offense really struggled and several players failed to find any rhythm during the game.

Points off turnovers was another issue for Butler. Seton Hall scored 19 points off of Butler’s 16 turnovers while the Dawgs were only able to score 9 points off of Seton Hall’s 12 turnovers. 

A positive for Butler’s offense was their bench. Butler outscored 19-13 in bench points, and the Dawgs saw several new faces, including Sydney Jaynes and Kate Tanner, putting points on the stat sheet. While the spark off the bench was a plus for Butler, the team’s second-highest scorer — Jaynes — only had 8 points.

Butler will need to have more players step up in scoring if they want to rattle off a few conference victories down the road.

The win put Seton Hall at 11-10 overall with a 6-7 record in the Big East, while Butler dropped to 1-18 overall and is now 0-10 in Big East play.

Butler’s next matchup is Feb. 9 at 7pm in Hinkle when the Dawgs will take on St. John’s – the first matchup of the season between the two teams.