Pirates Roll Musketeers, 84-58, in Tournament Opener

Friday, March 3

Uncasville, Conn. / Mohegan Sun Arena

4:00 PM

Seton Hall University

18-13,10-10Big East

No. 11 Xavier

7-23,0-20Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Xavier	12	14	15	17	58
Seton Hall	22	24	21	17	84

Victoria Keenan celebrates with Sha'Lynn Hagans in the locker room after Seton Hall's win over Xavier in the BIG EAST Tournament.

Photo by: Ben Solomon

Pirates Roll Musketeers, 84-58, in Tournament Opener

3/3/2023 7:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE - XU (.pdf)

Lauren Park-Lane erupts for 26 points and Victoria Keenan drains six three-pointers as the Pirates advance.

UNCASVILLE, CONN. – Senior Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) had a game-high 26 points and Victoria Keenan (Bethlehem, Pa.) scored 18 off the bench as the Seton Hall women's basketball team routed Xavier, 84-58, in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament on Friday.

The six-seeded Pirates led wire-to-wire and saw its lead grow to as many as 30 points in a convincing victory over the 11-seeded Musketeers to advance to the tournament quarterfinals for the fourth year in a row.

Despite playing only 26 minutes due to foul trouble, Park-Lane had 26 points on an efficient 8-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three-point range and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. She also dished out five assists.

Keenan had her best game in three years, going 6-for-9 from three-point range for a season-high 18 points. Jala Jordan (Philadelphia, Pa.) was a third Pirate to reach double-figures in scoring. She had 12 points off the bench.

THE STORY:
Leading 4-3 early, the Pirates went on a 9-2 run, and a three-pointer by Park-Lane gave The Hall a 13-5 lead with 5:35 left in the first quarter and prompted a Xavier timeout. Park-Lane matched the Musketeers 12-to-12 in the first quarter as The Hall took a 22-12 lead into the second. The Pirates held Xavier to just 26.7% from the field, compared to 57.1% for The Hall in the first 10 minutes.

Seton Hall opened the second quarter with back-to-back three-pointers by Keenan to force another Xavier timeout and extend its lead to 28-12 with 8:42 to play before halftime. The Musketeers, however, responded with a 10-0 run in about two minutes to cut its deficit to 28-22. That's when the Pirates took off again. The Hall went on an 18-2 run, capped by a steal and end-to-end score by Jordan to give it a commanding 46-24 advantage with just 56 seconds left in the half.

Xavier cut its deficit to 16 points, in the third quarter, but the Pirates responded with a 12-2 run, and Keenan's fifth three-pointer of the night put them up, 65-39, with 57 seconds left to play. The Hall's deficit never got lower than 23 points the rest of the way.

MOVING. ON. #HALLin pic.twitter.com/i2ugzdfClX
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) March 3, 2023

THE NUMBERS:

Seton Hall was 30-for-57 (52.6%) from the floor for the game, while Xavier was 19-for-55 (34.5%). The Hall was 11-for-25 (44.0%) from three-point range, while the Musketeers were 6-for-15 (40.0%).
Park-Lane had a game-high 26 points on an efficient 8-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three-point range and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. She also dished out five assists.
Xavier edged The Hall in the rebounding department, 32-to-31, including a 12-to-7 edge on the offensive glass, but the Pirates had an 8-to-4 advantage in second-chance points.
Keenan had a season-high 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting from three-point range.
Seton Hall was 13-for-14 (92.9%) from the free-throw line, while Xavier was 14-for-16 (87.5%).
Jordan tallied 12 points off the bench on 5-for-9 shooting.
Seton Hall forced 17 turnovers, while Xavier forced 13. Points off turnovers were even at 20-20.
The Hall had 36 points from its bench compared to just 12 for Xavier.

Victoria Keenan was interviewed by Meghan Caffrey after her big 18 point performance off the bench.

Check it out 👇🏼👇🏾👇🏼👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/vwF60ojB3S
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) March 3, 2023

THE NOTES:

Seton Hall advances to the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament and will face third-seeded Creighton on Saturday.
Seton Hall improves to 18-13 on the season, while Xavier's year comes to an end with a final record of 7-23.
It's the fourth straight year that Seton Hall has reached the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Tournament.
The Hall improves to 19-3 all-time against Xavier and has now won nine in a row over the Musketeers.
The Pirates are now 27-37 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament and 2-0 against the Musketeers in the event.
With 26 points tonight, Park-Lane moved Pirates Hall of Famer Geraldine Saintilus into second place on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,811 career points.
Xavier is the 12^th opponent Seton Hall has held to 60 or fewer points this season. The Pirates have won all 12 games.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action on Saturday, March 4 when it takes on third-seeded Creighton at the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Tip is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. The contest will be televised nationally on FS2. It'll also be available on 89.5 FM WSOU or wsou.net.