Pirates Down Mount St. Mary's to Open Season, 81-68

Tuesday, November 9

South Orange, N.J.

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

1-0,0-0Big East

Mount St. Mary's (Md.)

0-1,0-0NEC

Mount St. Mary's

Seton Hall

Pirates Down Mount St. Mary's to Open Season, 81-68

11/9/2021 10:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Lauren Park-Lane and Andra Espinoza-Hunter combine for 45 points as The Hall improves to 1-0.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Junior Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) and Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining, N.Y.) combined for 45 points as the Seton Hall women's basketball team opened the 2021-22 season with an 81-68 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday.

After a mostly even start, the Pirates had a game-changing 15-0 run in the second quarter, which proved to be the difference.

Park-Lane had only three points after one quarter, but broke out in the next three, finishing with a game-high 24 points to go with four assists, four steals and three rebounds. Espinoza-Hunter had 21 points and four rebounds.

Junior Mya Jackson (Wilmington, Ohio) chipped in 16 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals.

The Story:
Seton Hall never trailed in the game as it got off to a blistering start with made three-pointers on three of their first four shots, including back-to-back trifectas by Jackson for the first six Seton Hall points of the season. An Espinoza-Hunter three gave The Hall a 9-0 lead, but Mount St. Mary's scored nine straight to tie the score. The Hall methodically again started to pull away, and a three-pointer by Park-Lane gave it a 24-16 advantage.

With 6:48 left in the second quarter, the Mountaineers' Michaela Harrison hit a three-pointer to cut The Hall's lead to 28-25, but the Pirates responded by keeping Mount St. Mary's scoreless for the next 5:40 while they went on a 15-0 run to take a commanding 43-25 lead. The Hall rolled into halftime up, 45-29

After going 6-for-8 from three-point range in the first quarter, the Pirates were 0-for-10 in the three quarters that followed, which enabled Mount St. Mary's to stick around. With just 3:19 left to play, the Mountaineers cut their deficit to only six points, 72-66, but the Pirates were able to put them away at the free-throw line. The Hall scored their last nine points all from the charity stripe, going 9-for-12 from the line in the waning minutes.

Here are the first points of the 2021-22 season for Seton Hall! Mya Jackson with the three-ball!!#HALLin 🏀🏴‍☠️🏀 pic.twitter.com/xrsmof7tVW
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) November 10, 2021

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 27-for-62 (43.5%) from the floor for the game, while Mount St. Mary's was 26-for-53 (49.1%). The Hall was 6-for-18 (33.3%) from three-point range, while the Mountaineers were 5-for-19 (26.3%).
Park-Lane had a game-high 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting with four assists, four steals and three rebounds.
The Hall was out-rebounded by Mount St. Mary's, 36-to-33, but the Pirates had a slim 11-to-9 advantage on the offensive boards and a 13-to-6 edge in second-chance points.
Espinoza-Hunter finished with 21 points on the strength of 3-for-7 from three-point range, along with four rebounds.
Seton Hall was 21-for-27 (77.8%) from the free-throw line, while Mount St. Mary's was 11-for-15 (73.3%).
Jackson had 16 points and was 2-for-5 from three-point range. She also had three rebounds and two steals.
Seton Hall forced 26 turnovers, while Mount St. Mary's forced 14. The Hall had a huge 30-to-12 edge in points-off-turnovers.
Graduate student Katie Armstrong (Collegeville, Pa.) had nine points and a team-best eight rebounds in her Seton Hall debut.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall opens the season with a victory for the 11^th consecutive year, which includes all nine openers during the Anthony Bozzella era. The Pirates are now 39-10 all-time in season-openers.
The Pirates improve to 91-36 in Walsh Gym during the Bozzella era. They're an astonishing 48-7 against non-conference opponents.
With 16 points today, Jackson became the 67th player in Seton Hall history to reach 500 career points.
With two made three-pointers today, Jackson moved past former Pirate Veronica Sims into 13^th place on the Pirates' career list.
With 21 points today, Espinoza-Hunter surpassed the 800-mark for her career.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 13 when it hosts Fordham in newly-renovated Walsh Gymnasium. The game will be streamed live by the Pirate Sports Network and available for subscribers at FloSports. Tickets are available by calling 973-275-HALL (4255). Tip-time is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.