---

The University of Cincinnati women’s basketball team (14-12, Big East 5-8) traveled to South Orange, N.J. Saturday to take on the Seton Hall Lady Pirates (7-20, Big East 0-13), and escaped a late rally to earn the 54-48 win.

After a tumultuous 0-8 start to conference play that saw the Cats embark on one of the toughest schedules in the country, UC has won five of its last six games, including four-straight games on the road.

Still, with three games left to play, the marks of 14 overall wins and four road conference victories both represent the highest totals reached during the Jamelle Elliott era.

The Bearcats got on the board quickly with a Dayeesha Hollins layup within the first minute of play.
Seton Hall struggled terribly from the field in the first half and started the game with a
six-minute drought, finally scoring its first basket at the 13:58 mark on a Brittany
Morris jumper.

Unfortunately for UC, the Cats could not capitalize on the early Pirate woes, as they also encountered a five-minute scoreless stretch that left the score at just 2-2 after nearly seven minutes of play.

Sparked by two Bjonee Reaves 3-pointers, the Cats went on a 12-2 run that ended inside of the seven-minute mark to give Cincinnati a 14-4 lead.

After trading baskets for the final six minutes of the half, the Bearcats headed to the locker room with a 26-16 lead.

UC didn’t miss a beat to start the second stanza.

Chanel Chisolm — who played every second of the 40-minute contest — scored four quick points to spark an early 8-2 run that gave the Cats their biggest lead of the night, 34-18.

Behind the play of Chisolm and Hollins, UC maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half, and were up 42-28 at the 7:35 mark.

With just over seven minutes remaining, Seton Hall senior Jasmine Crew put the Pirates on her back and led an inspired comeback, scoring or assisting 16 of the Pirates’ final 20 points.

Despite the impressive play from Crew that sparked a 14-3 Seton hall run — which cut UC’s lead to just three points at the 2:24 minute mark — the Pirates couldn’t quite catch the Bearcats.

With Seton Hall within three points and the shot clock winding down, Reaves drained her fourth 3-point shot of the night to push the UC lead to six points.

Although the Bearcats struggled to make their free throws in the final two minutes, the Pirates would not get any closer than five points.

Crew led Seton Hall and all scorers with 19 points, and Hollins paced UC with 16.

The Bearcats will return home to take on Marquette at Fifth Third Arena at 7 p.m. Tuesday.