Uncasville, Conn. – The No. 11 seed Xavier Musketeers secured a hard-fought 80-73 victory over sixth-seeded DePaul in the opening round of the Big East Women’s Basketball Tournament on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The win marked Xavier’s first conference tournament victory in exactly a decade.
Meri Kaneva delivered a standout performance, scoring 28 points, while Aizhanique Mayo contributed 26 to lead the Musketeers. Kaneva electrified the crowd with a deep half-court buzzer-beater to close the first half, giving Xavier a commanding 15-point lead at the break. In the fourth quarter, she remained clutch at the free-throw line, sinking 9 of 10 attempts to seal the win.
Despite trailing by as many as 22 points, DePaul (13-19) mounted a furious second-half comeback, led by Jori Allen’s 28-point effort—18 of which came after halftime. The Blue Demons managed to erase the deficit and tied the game with just over six minutes remaining.
However, Xavier (7-23) responded quickly. Tae’lor Purvis and Kaneva each contributed four points during an 8-0 surge that helped the Musketeers regain control in the closing minutes.
With the victory, Xavier advances to face Seton Hall in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
