Elmore Erupts for 30 as Pirates Clinch Third Seed

Monday, March 1

Queens, N.Y. / Carnesecca Arena

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

14-6,12-5Big East

St. John's

7-14,4-12Big East

Seton Hall

St. John's (NY)

3/1/2021 9:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

QUEENS, N.Y. – Senior Desiree Elmore (Hartford, Conn.) erupted for a career-high 30 points on the night she reached 1,000 in a Pirate uniform and the Seton Hall women's basketball team defeated St. John's, 59-43, in the regular season finale on Monday to clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament.

Elmore, who scored 30 points on an efficient 11-for-16 shooting from the floor, became the 23^rd player in program history to reach 1,000 points in a Pirate uniform. She also had nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals again proving her worth as a top BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

Seton Hall's victory, coupled with Butler's upset of DePaul earlier in the day, clinches the No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Pirates will play the winner of the No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 11 Georgetown game on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET on FS2.

The Story:
Neither team started the game shooting well from the field, but the Pirate defense was a little better, holding St. John's scoreless for 4:00 and building an early 9-4 lead. Leading 15-12, The Hall went on a 14-3 run spanning 9:04. During the run, the Pirates held St. John's to just 1-for-8 shooting to build a commanding 29-15 advantage with just 3:05 to play before halftime.

The Hall held a 29-18 halftime lead despite shooting just 2-for-14 from three-point range. The Pirates' defense, however, forced 11 turnovers and held St. John's to just 30.8% from the floor.

Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining, N.Y.) found Elmore underneath for an easy bucket to extend The Hall's lead to 40-27. The Red Storm responded with a 6-0 burst to cut their deficit to seven with 1:44 left in the third quarter. The Hall, however, got all six back before the buzzer, and took a 13-point advantage into the fourth.

St. John's cut their deficit to nine points with 6:28 left to play, but couldn't get closer as the Pirates closed the game strong.

... and with this bucket, Desiree Elmore becomes the 23rd player in Seton Hall women's basketball history to score 1,000 points in a Pirate uniform.#HALLin 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/6uLPc8yFcI
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) March 2, 2021

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 20-for-53 (37.7%) from the floor for the game, while St. John's was 19-for-55 (34.5%). The Hall was just 2-for-15 (13.3%) from three-point range, while the Red Storm were 3-for-20 (15.0%).
Elmore had a career-high 30 points on an efficient 11-for-16 shooting from the floor and was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. She also had nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
The Hall out-rebounded St. John's, 38-to-33. Offensive rebounds were tied 10-to-10.
Sophomore Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) finished with 13 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Seton Hall was 17-for-19 (89.5%) from the free-throw line, while St. John's was just 2-for-5 (40.0%).
Espinoza-Hunter had 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Seton Hall forced 17 turnovers, while St. John's forced 12.

@John_Fanta and @Kim_Adams1 caught up with @TonyBozzella post-game tonight...#HALLin pic.twitter.com/nJDO6Zu99z
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) March 2, 2021

News & Notes:

Seton Hall completes the 2020-21 regular season with an overall record of 14-6 and a 12-5 mark in BIG EAST games, while St. John's finishes at 7-14 overall and 4-12 in conference play.
The Pirates improve to 35-48 all-time in the series have swept the 2020-21 season series.
With 30 points today, Elmore became the 23^rd player in Seton Hall women's basketball history to collect 1,000 in a Pirate uniform. She also passed former Pirates Ashley Bush, Brittany Morris and Robin Cunningham into 22^nd place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,010 career points at Seton Hall.
Espinoza-Hunter has now scored in double-figures in 15 of 16 games since joining the Pirates.
Elmore is the third Pirate to reach 30 points in a game this season, joining Espinoza-Hunter and Park-Lane. It's also Elmore's seventh 20-point game of the season and the 15^th of her career.
The Pirates are a perfect 12-0 when its opponent scores fewer than 70 points. They're now 9-0 when they out-rebound their opponent.
Seton Hall has now won five in a row for the second time this season. The last time the Pirates had two separate streaks of five straight wins was during the 2015-16 season.
Seton Hall forced more turnovers than its opponent for the 17^th time in 20 games this season. The Pirates are now 14-3 in those games.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action at the BIG EAST Tournament, at Mohegun Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The third-seeded Pirates will face either sixth-seeded Creighton or 11^th-seeded Georgetown on Saturday, March 6. The game will be nationally televised on FS2, and of course will be provided on the radio by 89.5 FM WSOU and wsou.net. Tip-time is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET.