The Hall Hosts Lafayette for Friday Matinee

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Walsh Gymnasium

SETON HALL (6-4) vs. LAFAYETTE (4-4)

Date

Time

Live Video

Live Audio

Live Stats

Twitter

Friday,
Dec. 20

Noon ET

LIVE STATS

@SHUWBB

PREVIEW
Seton Hall will return to action on Friday, December 20 when it returns to the friendly confines of Walsh Gymnasium to host Lafayette. The game will be streamed live on the Pirate Sports Network and of course will be provided on the radio by 89.5 FM WSOU and wsou.net. Tip-time is scheduled for Noon.

LAST GAME
Junior Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) and senior Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.) combined for 32 points as the Pirates ran away with a victory over Iona, 89-37, on Dec. 8. Seton Hall's 52-point victory ties for the fourth-largest margin of victory in program history, and gets the Pirates back in the win column after a hard-fought loss to No. 4 Connecticut three days earlier.

Elmore had a double-double and led all players with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Samuels, making her first start since Nov. 15, added 15 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Iona connected on a three-pointer for the first points of the game, but then went scoreless for the next 8:14 as Seton Hall took control with a 22-0 run. A jumper by Jasmine Smith (Houston, Texas) gave The Hall a commanding, 22-3, advantage with 1:15 left in the first quarter.

vs.

Seton Hall's All-Time vs. the Leopards: 8-3
Last Meeting: HALL 80, Lafayette 63 – Dec. 7, 2014

LAST TIME AGAINST LAFAYETTE
In their last meeting, Seton Hall scored an easy, 80-63, victory over Lafayette on December 7, 2014 in Walsh Gym.

Seton Hall trailed by as many as seven points in the first half, but the Pirates mounted a 9-2 run over the final three minutes of the period to draw even at 32-32, and then really picked up the intensity to start the second half, scoring the first 11 points to make it a 20-2 spurt to end the first half and start the second, putting the game out of reach in the process.

That 20-2 run, which began at the end of the first period, was capped off by a Daisha Simmons triple in the corner at 16:27, providing the Pirates with a 43-32 advantage. The Hall was 4-for-9 from downtown in the second half after recording just one try in the first period.

More than five minutes expired before Lafayette converted its first field goal of the second half, but the Seton Hall offense just kept rolling, with Tabatha Richardson-Smith leading the way, scoring 14 of her 18 points over the final 20 minutes.

SCOUTING LAFAYETTE
The Leopards are coming off an 8-23 season a year ago, which came to an end in the second round of the Patriot League Tournament. Lafayette defeated Army in round one, before falling to American in round two.

This year, Lafayette enters its contest with Seton Hall with a 4-4 record. The Leopards had won three straight before falling at Monmouth, 52-44, on Dec. 7, their last game. Earlier this year, Lafayette played at St. John's, another BIG EAST team, and fell, 76-44. Lafayette's four victories this year have come over Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Manhattan and at Albany.

Natalie Kucowski currently leads Lafayette with 13.0 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. Alexis Santarelli is the lone other Leopard averaging in double-figures in scoring at 10.4.

UP NEXT
With all non-conference games now behind them, the Pirates will return to action on Sunday, December 29 to open the BIG EAST portion of their schedule in Indianapolis against Butler. The game will be a BIG EAST Digital Network broadcast, and of course will be provided on the radio by 89.5 FM WSOU and wsou.net. Tip-time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.