Pirates Fall Late as Villanova Rallies in Fourth Quarter, 76-73

Friday, December 31

Villanova, Pa. / Finneran Pavilion

2:00 PM

Seton Hall University

6-6,1-3Big East

Villanova

7-5,1-2Big East

Seton Hall

Villanova

Pirates Fall Late as Villanova Rallies in Fourth Quarter, 76-73

12/31/2021 4:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Sidney Cooks and Lauren Park-Lane registered double-doubles in the road setback.

VILLANOVA, PA. – Sidney Cooks (Kenosha, Wis.) and Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) had double-doubles, but Villanova rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Seton Hall women's basketball team, 76-73, on Friday.

The Pirates held a seven-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but Villanova out-scored The Hall, 26-16, in the final 10 minutes.

Cooks finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and two assists for her second double-double of the season. Park-Lane had 12 points and 10 assists.

Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining, N.Y.) finished with a team-best 20 points to go with six rebounds and two steals, while Mya Jackson (Wilmington, Ohio) tallied 16 points, three rebounds and two assists. Curtessia Dean (Monroe, La.) tallied career-bests of 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Story:
Trailing 6-2 early in the first quarter, the Pirates went on an 14-2 run, which included four made three-pointers, including two from Dean, to grab a 16-8 advantage with 3:58 left. The Hall stayed hot and took a 20-13 lead into the second quarter.

In the second frame, The Hall's lead grew to as many as 13 points when a pair of Park-Lane free-throws gave it a 33-20 advantage with 3:31 left in the half. Villanova, however, responded by hitting their last five shots of the half, and cut their deficit to 39-33 at the break. The Pirates out-rebounded Villanova, 20-to-15, in the first 20 minutes and committed just one turnover.

Villanova made a run in the third quarter and grabbed a 48-47 lead with 3:41 left in the third quarter. The Hall bounced back, however, and closed out the quarter with a 10-2 run. A turnaround jumper by Cooks gave the Pirates a 57-50 advantage with just 29 seconds left in the third.

A jumper by Jackson gave The Hall a 61-56 lead with 8:02 left in the game, but Villanova responded with an 8-2 run to take a 64-63 advantage with 5:25 to go. The Pirates kept it a one-possession game until Villanova extended its lead on the free-throw line late. A layup by Espinoza-Hunter cut The Hall's deficit to three points 76-73, with only nine seconds left. The Hall was able to turn the Wildcats over, but the potential game-tying three-pointer didn't fall in the game's final seconds.

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 26-for-68 (38.2%) from the floor for the game, while Villanova was 30-for-64 (46.9%). The Hall was 8-for-18 (44.4%) from three-point range, while the Wildcats were 8-for-30 (26.7%).
Cooks finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and two assists.
Villanova narrowly out-rebounded The Hall, 39-to-38, but the Pirates were more successful on the offensive glass, 12-to-9.
Park-Lane tallied 12 points, a game-high 10 assists and only three turnovers.
Seton Hall was an impressive 13-for-14 (92.9%) from the free-throw line, while Villanova was 8-for-12 (66.7%).
Espinoza-Hunter had a team-high 20 points to go with six rebounds and two steals.
Seton Hall forced 11 turnovers, while Villanova forced only seven. The Pirates out-scored Villanova in points-off-turnovers, 14-to-5.
Jackson finished with 16 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Dean had career-highs of 10 points and seven rebounds.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall falls to 6-6 overall and 1-3 in BIG EAST games, while Villanova improves to 7-5 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
Seton Hall drops to 24-46 all-time against Villanova.
Park-Lane has now recorded at least seven assists in eight of the last 10 games.
With 16 points today, Jackson surpassed the 600-point milestone for her career.
With 10 assists today, Park-Lane broke into the top-10 on Seton Hall's career assist list. She moved past former Pirate Tonya Alleyne and into a tie with Kaela Hilaire for ninth place all-time with 319 career assists.
Espinoza-Hunter has now reached double-figures in scoring in 18 straight games dating back to last season.
Espinoza-Hunter's 20-point game is her sixth of the season and the 13^th in her Seton Hall career.
This is the first time Seton Hall has lost this season when having a fourth quarter lead.
Seton Hall drops to 6-2 all-time when playing on New Year's Eve.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Tuesday, January 4 when it wraps up non-conference play with a newly-added contest against Towson in Walsh Gym. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The contest will be streamed by the Pirate Sports Network and available to FloSports subscribers.