SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The FGCU women's basketball team had a rough night shooting the basketball as they dropped the 2011-12 season opener to Seton Hall, 57-51, on Friday night in Walsh Gymnasium. The Eagles (0-1) were held to just 29-percent shooting from the floor, 24.2-perfect from long range and were forced into 17 turnovers, leading to 23 Seton Hall points.

The Green and Blue received a strong performance from sophomore Sarah Hansen (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane HS), who led the team with 14 points and 13 rebounds in 39 minutes of play. Senior Nicoya Jackson (Houston, Texas/Cypress Springs HS/Southwestern Christian) chipped in eight points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Seniors Eglah Griffin (Fort Myers, Fla./Dunbar HS/Seminole CC) and Kelsey Jacobson (Barnesville, Minn./Moorhead HS) and redshirt-freshman Amber Rechis (Martin, Tenn./Westview HS) each finished with six points.

Hansen scored the first bucket of the season for the Eagles, and then a 10-2 run over an eight-minute span gave FGCU a six point cushion at the 11:34 mark of the first half. SHU (1-0) pulled within 10-9 after Elaine Swaby hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe and Jasmine Crew evened the score, 13-13, after a pull-up jumper with 5:25 left before the break.

Nicosia Henry gave the Pirates their first lead, 18-15, with a three-pointer from the right wing with 1:11 remaining in the half. A Chizoba Ekedigwe free-throw extended the margin to four points going into the intermission.

SHU stormed out of the gate in the second half, employing a 9-2 run over the first 4:27 of the second half, to push their lead to 28-17.

Seton Hall went on to increase their lead to as many as 17 points with 9:56 left in the game.

Rechis and Jackson hit back-to-back threes to bring FGCU within nine points (40-31), but Maseko answered with a putback with 7:14 to go to push the Seton Hall lead back to double-digits (42-31).

Hansen converted on a layup in transition to make it, 47-38, forcing the Pirates to call a timeout with 4:20 to go. Coming out of the break, Maseko came up with a block in the lane, which turned into a transition bucket by Henry on the baseline to end the spurt (49-38).

A pair of missed free-throws on the front-end of one-and-one's helped aid another late rally by the Eagles as Jacobson knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner to make it 49-41 with 1:35 left in regulation.

Griffin knocked down another three with 15 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 55-51, but Morris answered with a pair from the stripe to seal the win.

The Eagles are back in action on Monday, November 14 when they travel to Miami, Fla. to take on FIU. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.