FINAL FOUR BOUND! Park-Lane, Pirates Edge Columbia, 78-75

Monday, March 28

New York, N.Y. / Levien Gymnasium

8:00 PM

Seton Hall University

23-12,12-8Big East

Columbia

25-7,12-2Ivy League

Seton Hall

Columbia

Photo by: Matt Kipp

FINAL FOUR BOUND! Park-Lane, Pirates Edge Columbia, 78-75

3/29/2022 12:21:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)BRACKET

Park-Lane nets 29 points and the Pirates shoot a perfect 20-for-20 from the free-throw line.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Junior Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) had a game-high 29 points, and the Seton Hall women's basketball team edged Columbia, 78-75, to reach the Final Four of the 2022 Women's National Invitation Tournament on Monday.

The Hall will now face Middle Tennessee on Thursday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET in Murfreesboro, Tenn. for the right to play in the championship game on Saturday.

Park-Lane registered a team-high 29 points for the third time in four WNIT games this postseason. The Pirate point guard was a perfect 14-for-14 from the free-throw line and had five assists and two steals. As a team, The Hall went 20-for-20 from the line, while Columbia was just 9-for-16.

Both Sidney Cooks (Kenosha, Wis.) and Andra Espinoza-Hunter (Ossining, N.Y.) scored 16 points. Cooks also had five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Espinoza-Hunter had five rebounds and three assists.

The Story:
Neither team grabbed a lead greater than five points in an evenly-played first quarter. Both teams shot better than 40% from the floor. A pair of free-throws by Park-Lane put The Hall up, 21-16, but Columbia scored the final five of the quarter to end the first 10 minutes tied at 21. The Lions were 4-for-6 from three-point range in the first quarter to keep Seton Hall from pulling away.

Trailing 26-25, The Hall went on a 6-0 spurt and a backdoor layup by Mya Bembry (West Orange, N.J.) off a pretty pass from Cooks gave The Hall a 31-26 lead with 4:58 left before halftime. Columbia came back and cut their deficit to just one point, 33-32, but the Pirates responded with six unanswered again to go back up, 39-32 with 1:44 left before the break. The Hall took a 39-34 lead into halftime despite shooting just 1-for-7 from three-point range in the first half. Columbia meanwhile, drained six trifectas in the first 20 minutes.

Espinoza-Hunter had a driving layup with 9:08 left in the third quarter to give The Hall a 43-37 lead, but then Columbia held the Pirates scoreless for 4:02 and went on an 11-0 during the stretch to take a 48-43 advantage. Down 50-45, it was the Pirates' turn to go on a run. The Hall closed the third quarter with a 11-0 run, fueled by seven points from Park-Lane to take a 56-50 lead into the fourth quarter.

Columbia wasted little time in tying the score, getting made three-pointers by Kitty Henderson on back-to-back possessions early in the fourth quarter. From there, there was 10 lead changes, in a wild, back-and-forth final nine minutes. A three-pointer by Mya Jackson (Wilmington, Ohio) gave The Hall a 72-68 lead with 2:51 left, but the Lions roared back and a three-pointer by Abbey Hsu put Columbia in front, 73-72 with 1:12 to go. The Pirates didn't make another field goal, but went 6-for-6 in the final minute. A pair of shots from Park-Lane with 57 seconds left put The Hal back in front. Columbia's Henderson hit a layup to put the Lions back in front, 76-75 with just 35 seconds left, but Park-Lane was again fouled and put The Hall ahead with two more made free throws. Then, with just eight seconds left, Amari Wright (Jacksonville, Fla.) hit a pair to extend The Hall's final margin of victory to 78-75.

LP with the steal and score... pic.twitter.com/i0QlNc1Fqc
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) March 29, 2022

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 27-for-61 (44.3%) from the floor for the game, while Columbia was 27-for-66 (40.9%). The Hall was 4-for-14 (28.6%) from three-point range, while the Lions were 12-for-28 (42.9%).
Park-Lane had a game-high 29 points and was a perfect 14-for-14 from the free-throw line. She also had five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Columbia out-rebounded The Hall, 38-to-36, which included a 13-to-8 advantage on the offensive glass and a 11-to-10 edge in second-chance points.
Cooks had 16 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.
Seton Hall was a perfect 20-for-20 (100.0%) from the free-throw line, while Columbia was just 9-for-16 (56.3%).
Espinoza-Hunter had 16 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Seton Hall forced 11 turnovers, while Columbia forced nine.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall improves to 23-12 overall, while Columbia's season comes to an end with a final record of 25-7. The Pirates have now won 15 of their last 17 games.
Tonight's game was the 35^th of the season for the Pirates, which sets a new single-season program record.
The Pirates improve to 3-0 all-time against the Lions.
The Hall is now 8-6 all-time in the WNIT and advances to the Final Four for the first time in program history.
Seton Hall's 23 wins are its most since collecting 23 victories during the 2015-16 season.
Park-Lane is now averaging 27.3 points and 6.3 assists in four WNIT games this postseason.
Park-Lane's 20-point game is her 17^th this season and the 23^rd of her career.
Cooks reached double-figures in scoring for the 16^th straight game, which leads the team.
With 29 points tonight, Park-Lane moved past former Pirate Kathy O'Reilly into 15^th place on Seton Hall's career scoring list.
Seton Hall improves to 21-1 when it outshoots its opponent this season.
With 16 points tonight, Espinoza-Hunter surpassed 1,300 points for her career. She has now scored 834 in a Seton Hall uniform.

Up Next:
With the victory, Seton Hall advances to the Final Four (national semifinals) of the WNIT and will next travel to Middle Tennessee on Thursday, March 31. Tip time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.