Espinoza-Hunter, Elmore Again Power Pirates, 87-64

Wednesday, January 20

South Orange, N.J.

1:00 PM

Seton Hall University

7-3,5-2Big East

St. John's

4-8,1-6Big East

St. John's (NY)

Seton Hall

1/20/2021 4:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining, N.Y.) and Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) combined for 56 points and the Seton Hall women's basketball team earned their fourth straight win, an 87-64 victory over St. John's on Wednesday.

St. John's led for 18 seconds after scoring the first bucket of the game, but the Pirates answered with 10 straight points and never trailed again in a comfortable victory.

Espinoza-Hunter erupted for a career-high 30 points on 12-for-26 shooting and collected eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Elmore tied her career-high with 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting to go with a game-high nine rebounds and two steals.

The Story:
St. John's netted the first basket of the game, but The Hall responded with a 10-0 run to assume control and force an early Red Storm timeout. Espinoza-Hunter scored on a scooping layup and drew the foul with just 45 seconds left in the quarter and the three-point play put The Hall on top, 22-13.

Seton Hall opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to grab a 33-17 lead just three minutes in. A free-throw by Espinoza-Hunter with 4:24 to go before the break gave The Hall their largest lead of the half, 41-22. A late burst by the Red Storm shaved the Pirates lead, but they still took a 46-32 advantage into the break.

Starting late in the third quarter, Elmore and St. John's Qadashah Hoppie took over for their respective teams. At one point, Hoppie scored 13 consecutive points for the Red Storm, while Elmore tallied 12 straight points for the Pirates. A three-pointer by Alexia Allesch (Basking Ridge, N.J.) with 5:01 left to play ended Elmore's personal run, but put The Hall on top, 78-58.

Here's another angle on that Andra Espinoza-Hunter scooping three-point play in the first quarter...#HALLin pic.twitter.com/bvlyRxMwso
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) January 20, 2021

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 35-for-76 (46.1%) from the floor for the game, while St. John's was 26-for-60 (43.3%). The Hall was 7-for-21 (33.3%) from three-point range, while the Red Storm were 4-for-17 (23.5%).
Espinoza-Hunter scored a career-high 30 points on 12-for-26 shooting, including 4-for-9 from three-point range. She also had eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Hall out-rebounded St. John's, 47-to-30, which included a 22-to-10 advantage on the offensive boards and a 16-to-8 lead in second-chance points.
Elmore tied her career-high with 26 points on an efficient 12-for-16 shooting. She also had a game-high nine rebounds and two steals.
Seton Hall was 10-for-13 (76.9%) from the free-throw line, while St. John's was 8-for-9 (88.9%).
Senior Jasmine Smith (Houston, Texas) had another strong game with 10 points.
Seton Hall forced 17 turnovers, while St. John's forced 11. The Pirates had 23 points off turnovers, compared to 14 for the Red Storm.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in BIG EAST games, while St. John's falls to 4-8 overall and 1-6 in conference play.
The Pirates are now 5-2 in BIG EAST Conference games for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
The Hall improves to 34-48 all-time against St. John's and snaps a three-game losing streak to the Red Storm.
Espinoza-Hunter is the first Pirate to score 30 points in a game since Shadeen Samuels had 32 against Creighton on Jan. 11, 2019.
With 26 points today, Elmore passed former Pirates Kris Durham and Pam Cerutti into 37^th place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list. She currently has 837 career points.
Espinoza-Hunter has now scored at least 20 points in four consecutive games. She has scored in double-figures in six straight games, every game of her career at Seton Hall.
Elmore reached 20 points in a game for the third time this season and 11th time in her career.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Saturday, January 23 when it hosts BIG EAST rival Xavier at Walsh Gymnasium. The game will be streamed live by the BIG EAST Digital Network and shown on FloHoops.com, and of course will be provided on the radio by 89.5 FM WSOU and wsou.net. Tip-time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.