Pirates Edged Late at St. John's, 77-76

Saturday, February 22

Queens, N.Y. / Carnesecca Arena

2:00 PM

Seton Hall University

16-11,9-7Big East

St. John's

16-11,9-7Big East

Seton Hall

St. John's (NY)

2/22/2020 4:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME INFO BOX SCORE

QUEENS, N.Y. – Three Pirates recorded double-doubles, but the Seton Hall women's basketball team fell in the waning seconds of a back-and-forth BIG EAST contest at St. John's, 77-76, on Saturday.

The Hall led by one with the ball with 10 seconds remaining, but the Pirates' inbounds pass was knocked away, and in the ensuing scrum on the floor, St. John's Kadaja Bailey was fouled. She went to the line and made both free-throws with four seconds left to hand the victory to the Red Storm.

Senior Alexis Lewis (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) had a team-high 22 points to go with 12 rebounds. Shadeen Samuels (Ossining, N.Y.) had 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Junior Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) added 16 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

The Story:
Seton Hall came out of the starting gates strong, racing out to an early 11-4, capped by a three-pointer from Lewis which forced a quick St. John's timeout. After a St. John's bucket, The Hall took off on a 13-2 burst, and another jumper by Lewis gave The Hall a commanding 24-10 lead after one quarter.

Trailing 29-14, St. John's went on a 19-3 run over 5:32 of the second quarter to take its first lead of the game, 33-32, with 3:03 left to play before halftime. The Pirates however, responded with 9-0 run of their own, and a made jumper by Elmore gave them a 41-33 advantage with 55 seconds to go before the break. Ultimately, The Hall took a 41-35 lead into the locker room.

A three-point play by Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) extended The Hall's lead to 54-44 with just under six minutes to go in the third quarter. The Red Storm however, bounced back with a 12-3 spurt to cut the Pirates' lead to one, 57-56, with 3:41 left in the quarter.

After Samuels scored 14 seconds into the fourth quarter to put The Hall up four points, the game wasn't more than a one-possession game the rest of the way. Down three with 1:34 left to play, Lewis hit a jumper to cut The Hall's deficit to one. With 21 seconds left, a put-back by Elmore gave the Pirates a 76-75 lead. With 10 seconds left and The Hall still leading by one, the Pirates secured a rebound and called their final timeout. With three fouls to give, St. John's fouled on three Pirate inbounds plays, but on the fourth inbound, a St. John's player got a hand on the loose ball, and in the scrum for the ball, Bailey was fouled. Bailey made both free-throws with four seconds left to give St. John's the lead. Park-Lane scrambled the length of the floor to put up a shot, which touched three sides of the rim, but ultimately fell off.

Here are some highlights from today's contest...#HALLin pic.twitter.com/ypM0ee7WnG
— Seton Hall WBB (@SHUWBB) February 22, 2020

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 31-for-73 (42.5%) from the floor for the game, while St. John's was 29-for-60 (48.3%). The Hall was 6-for-20 (30.0%) from three-point range, while the Red Storm were 7-for-24 (29.2%).
Lewis finished with a team-high 22 points on 9-for-17 shooting to go with 12 rebounds.
The Hall pounded St. John's on the glass, 49-to-23, which included a 24-to-7 advantage on the offensive boards and a 29-to-8 lead in second-chance points.
Samuels had 19 points on an efficient 7-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-3 from three-point range. She also grabbed 12 rebounds to go with four assists and two steals.
Seton Hall was 8-for-11 (72.7%) from the free-throw line, while St. John's was 12-for-13 (92.3%).
Elmore finished with 16 points to go with 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Seton Hall forced seven turnovers, while St. John's forced 16. The Red Storm had a 22-to-7 advantage in points-off-turnovers.
Park-Lane finished with 13 points, three rebounds and a team-high six assists against only two turnovers.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall drops to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the BIG EAST, while St. John's improves to an identical 16-11 overall and 9-7 in conference play.
Seton Hall is now 33-48 all-time against St. John's. The Red Storm join DePaul as the only teams in the BIG EAST to sweep the season series against the Pirates.
Elmore scored in double-figures for the 21^st time in 27 games this season, which leads Seton Hall. She now has 35 such games in her career.
Seton Hall lost for the first time this season despite making more field goals than its opponent. The Hall is now 17-1 when connecting on more field goals.
With 19 points today, Samuels became only the 13^th player in Seton Hall women's basketball history to surpass 1,200 points for her career. She also passed former Pirates Kathy O'Reilly and Phyllis Mangina into 13^th place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,206 career points.
Park-Lane finished with six assists and two turnovers today. She now has nine games this season of at least five assists and two or fewer turnovers.
Lewis reached 20 points in a game for the fifth time this season, which leads the Pirates.
The double-double is the fourth of the season for both Elmore and Samuels. It's the third for Lewis.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Friday, February 28 when it returns to Walsh Gymnasium for its final home weekend of the regular season. The Pirates will host Xavier with a 7:00 p.m. tip time. The game will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network, and of course will be provided on the radio by 89.5 FM WSOU and wsou.net.