Park-Lane, Pirates Battle, But Fall at #19 DePaul, 82-76

Monday, February 15

Chicago, Ill. / Wintrust Arena

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

9-6,7-5Big East

#19 DePaul

12-4,9-2Big East

Seton Hall

DePaul

Park-Lane, Pirates Battle, But Fall at #19 DePaul, 82-76

2/15/2021 9:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Sophomore Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) scored a game-high 24 points and both Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining, N.Y.) and Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) had double-doubles, but the Seton Hall women's basketball team fell at No. 19 DePaul, 82-76, on Monday.

After an even first half, DePaul scored the first nine points of the third quarter and the Pirates were never able to fully recover. Although The Hall out-shot the Blue Demons, the Pirates were just 5-for-26 from three-point range.

Park-Lane scored 24 points on 10-for-20 shooting and dished out five assists. Espinoza-Hunter had 17 points and 15 rebounds for her first career double-double, while Elmore had 13 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and a career-high five blocks.

The Story:
DePaul scored the first seven points of the game, but the Pirates battled back with six straight of their own to keep the game close early. Sonya Morris scored for DePaul with 4:57 left in the first quarter to put them up, 11-6, but then the Pirate defense held the Blue Demons without a field goal for the remainder of the quarter. In the meantime, The Hall went on an 11-2 run, and Elmore's bucket in the post sent the Pirates into the second quarter leading, 17-13.

A tough shot in the paint by Jasmine Smith (Houston, Texas) gave The Hall a 21-15 lead with 7:56 to go before the break, but DePaul battled back and eventually took the lead with just over a minute to play. Down 31-28, Elmore found Park-Lane with a behind-the-back pass, who subsequently drained a three-pointer as the clock expired to send the game into halftime tied.

Like the first half, DePaul began the third quarter with a run, this time a 9-0 burst to give the Blue Demons a 40-31 advantage. A layup by Park-Lane cut The Hall's deficit to 52-44, but DePaul responded with another 7-0 spurt to grab a commanding 59-44 lead with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

In a game of runs, the Pirates had one last burst in them. Down 78-66 with just 2:23 left in the fourth quarter, The Hall went on a furious 8-0 rally, boosted by back-to-back three-pointers from Park-Lane and Mya Jackson (Wilmington, Ohio), to cut its deficit to 78-74 with 1:03 to go. Whereas The Hall struggled from the line tonight, the Blue Demons were 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and iced the game on the line.

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 32-for-79 (40.5%) from the floor for the game, while DePaul was 29-for-74 (39.2%). The Hall was 5-for-26 (19.2%) from three-point range, while the Blue Demons were 8-for-27 (29.6%).
Park-Lane had a game-high 24 points on 10-for-20 shooting and five assists.
DePaul edged The Hall in rebounding, 48-to-46, but the Pirates had a slim 14-to-12 advantage on the offensive boards and a 15-to-10 lead in second-chance points.
Espinoza-Hunter finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds and four assists.
Seton Hall was an uncharacteristic 7-for-16 (43.8%) from the free-throw line, while DePaul was 16-for-19 (84.2%).
Elmore had 13 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and a career-high five blocks.
In a relatively clean game, both teams forced only 12 turnovers.
Sophomore Mya Bembry (West Orange, N.J.) pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, including five offensive boards.
The Pirates dominated in the paint, outscoring DePaul, 48-to-28.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall falls to 9-6 overall and 7-5 in BIG EAST games, while DePaul improves to 12-4 overall and 9-2 in conference play.
The Pirates fall to 5-23 all-time against DePaul and have dropped the last five in the series.
This was Park-Lane's fourth 20-point performance of the season. She has also now had at least five assists in 10 games so far this year and 21 times in her career.
Espinoza-Hunter's double-double is the first of her career. It's the second straight game she has recorded 15 rebounds. Prior to Saturday, her previous career-high in rebounds was eight.
Elmore's double-double is her second straight, third of the season and the ninth of her career.
It's the first time that two Pirates have recorded a double-double in the same game since Desiree Elmore and Alexis Lewis did so at Georgetown last season.
With 13 points today, Elmore passed former Pirates Veronica Sims, Nicole Emery and Jasmine Crew into 30^th place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list. She currently has 915 career points.
This is only the second time this season that the Pirates have lost despite out-shooting their opponent.
Seton Hall's 43.8% (7-for-16) free-throw shooting tonight is a season-low.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday, February 17 when it returns to Walsh Gym to host long-time BIG EAST rival Georgetown. The game will be streamed 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 7:00 p.m. ET.