Desiree Elmore dropped 30 points as Seton Hall defeated St. John’s 59-43 on Monday night. With the win and Butler’s upset victory over DePaul, the Pirates clinched the No. 3 seed for the upcoming Big East Tournament.
In addition to her career-high 30 points, Elmore also scored her 1,000th point in a Pirates uniform; the 23rd Pirate to do it in program history. Behind Elmore, Lauren Park-Lane had 13 points and Andra Espinoza-Hunter had 10. Elmore also built her defensive player of the year resume with nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
Both teams started the game slowly on the offensive end, but Seton Hall's defense kept St. John's quiet for the first four minutes of the game. This allowed them to build an early 9-4 lead.
At the start of the second quarter, the Pirates went on a 14-3 run to extend their lead to 29-15. The Pirates also held St. John's to 1-for-8 shooting from the field over a nine-minute span in the second quarter. The Redstorm would score the final basket of the half with a three-point basket, but the Pirates took a healthy 29-18 lead into the half time break.
The Pirates extended their lead to 46-33 at the end of the third quarter and held off any chance of a St. John’s rally in the fourth. The Pirate defense showed up throughout as they forced 17 turnovers and made eight steals.
The Pirates finished their regular season with an overall 14-6 record and 12-5 in Big East play.
Seton Hall returns to action on Saturday, Mar. 6 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. As the No. 3 seed, they will have a first-round bye and will play the winner of No. 6 seed Creighton against No. 11 seed Georgetown.
Jenna Powell can be reached at jenna.powell@student.shu.edu.
