Sidney Cooks Erupts in Sunday's Setback to DePaul

Sunday, January 30

South Orange, N.J.

4:30 PM

Seton Hall University

8-10,3-7Big East

DePaul

18-5,10-2Big East

DePaul

Seton Hall

1/30/2022 7:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Cooks goes for 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks in a career-best effort.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Senior Sidney Cooks (Kenosha, Wis.) erupted for a career-high 32 points to go with 10 rebounds and seven blocks, but the Seton Hall women's basketball team fell to DePaul, 85-65, in Walsh Gym on Sunday.

Cooks was brilliant, connecting on her first nine shots, and collecting her season-high before halftime. She finished 15-for-22 from the floor for a career-high 32 points to go with team-highs of 10 rebounds and seven blocks. Her 32 points is the highest for any Pirate this season and the most since Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) scored 32 against Georgetown, on February 18 of last season.

Seton Hall trailed by only four with 2:31 left in the third, but DePaul, the nation's top scoring team, scored the last seven points of the quarter, and pulled away in the fourth by out-scoring the Pirates, 20-to-11.

Park-Lane finished with 12 points to go with six assists and five rebounds.

The Story:
Both Seton Hall and DePaul started the game on fire from the field, no one more so than Cooks, who scored the Pirates' first 13 points. The Pirate center had her season average just 4:25 into the contest. Leading 18-16, DePaul scored nine unanswered points to grab a 25-16 advantage. The Hall, however, scored the last six points of the quarter on three-pointers by Amari Wright (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Park-Lane.

Sidney kept "cooking" in the second quarter, scoring the first six points for The Hall, which gave it a 28-25 lead with 8:17 before halftime. The Blue Demons, however, responded with a 9-0 run to re-take a 34-28 advantage at the media timeout. Seton Hall again closed the quarter strong and an offensive rebound and layup by Curtessia Dean (Monroe, La.) cut the Pirates' deficit to 38-35 at the break.

Cooks had a season-high 22 points in the first half alone and made her first nine shots.

Graduate student Katie Armstrong (Collegeville, Pa.) hit a jumper to pull the Pirates to within four points, 58-54, with only 2:31 left in the third, but DePaul closed the quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 65-54 lead into the fourth. Cooks hit a shot to cut The Hall's deficit to 70-61 with 5:27 remaining in the game, but the Blue Demons put the game out of reach with a 15-0 run over the next 4:43.

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 28-for-66 (42.4%) from the floor for the game, while DePaul was 35-for-81 (43.2%). The Hall was 4-for-17 (23.5%) from three-point range, while the Blue Demons were 9-for-22 (40.9%).
Cooks had a career-high 32 points on an efficient 15-for-22 shooting to go with team-highs of 10 rebounds and seven blocks.
DePaul out-rebounded The Hall, 44-to-39, which included a 20-to-12 advantage on the offensive glass and a 20-to-7 lead in second-chance points.
Park-Lane had 12 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Seton Hall was 5-for-8 (62.5%) from the free-throw line, while DePaul was 6-for-7 (85.7%).
Dean tallied nine points and six rebounds.
Seton Hall forced 12 turnovers, while DePaul forced 19.
Wright scored a season-high eight points.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall falls to 8-10 overall and 3-7 in BIG EAST games, while DePaul improves to 18-5 overall and 10-2 in conference play.
Seton Hall drops to 5-24 all-time against DePaul and has now lost six straight in the series.
With six assists today, Park-Lane moved past former Pirate Cindy Allman into sixth place all-time with 349 career assists.
Today's performance was Cooks' first career 30-point game, third career 20-point game and 14^th time she's scored in double-figures this season.
Cooks went 15-for-22 from the field against DePaul. Her 15 made field goals ties the Seton Hall single-game record set by Tabatha Richardson-Smith against Marquette on Feb. 22, 2014.
Cooks' seven blocks are the most by a Pirate in a single game since Kelley Moore had seven against Pittsburgh on Jan. 8, 1990. It's the second-most blocks in a single-game in Pirate history.
Cooks' double-double is her fourth of the season.
Today's game featured four of the top five scorers in the BIG EAST Conference. DePaul's Aneesah Morrow (20.8 ppg, 1^st), DePaul's Sonya Morris (18.2 ppg, 3^rd), Park-Lane (16.9 ppg, 4^th) and Espinoza-Hunter (15.8 ppg, 5^th).
Wright made her first career start.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday, February 2 when it hosts Georgetown at newly-renovated Walsh Gymnasium. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. The contest will be streamed live by the BIG EAST Digital Network and available for FloSports subscribers.