The Seton Hall women’s basketball team has shown time and time again this season that when they are in top form, they are nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately for Xavier, the Pirates did just that to secure a 43-point win over the Musketeers and take another step towards securing a top three seed for the Big East Tournament.
Seton Hall broke a trio of records on their way to claiming their 10th Big East win of the season, including points scored, most three-point baskets made in a single game and most single-game assists by a player with Lauren Park-Lane providing 15 on the night. Park-Lane also scored 17 points for her first career double-double in the Pirates’ 108-65 win over Xavier.
Mya Jackson got the Pirates rolling when she connected with her first two three-point baskets and individually outscored Xavier 8-2 in the opening two minutes. The Musketeers responded with a 9-0 run over their own and it seemed like Seton Hall were beating themselves again with another defensive collapse, but the Pirates rebounded instantaneously with six minutes left to play in the first quarter.
Victoria Keenan led the Pirates on a 22-3 run to close out the quarter with a 30-14 lead. Keenan scored four three-point baskets in the quarter and went on to shoot 7-for-7 from beyond the arc to tie her career-high 21 points.
Jackson and Park-Lane as well as Desiree Elmore and Andra Espinoza-Hunter each scored one of Seton Hall’s opening four baskets of the second quarter to ignite an 11-2 run. Park-Lane’s layup with seven minutes left in the half gave the Pirates a 41-18 lead. She went on to add seven more points and provide four assists to maintain Seton Hall’s 23-point lead into half time.
Park-Lane and Espinoza-Hunter got the Pirates jumping again at the start of the third quarter with both contributing six points each before the under-four-minute mark. Espinoza-Hunter hit two three-point baskets while Park-Lane scored two free throws and two layups.
Keenan scored her sixth three-point basket of the game and Jasmine Smith scored the final basket of the quarter for Seton Hall. The Pirates outscored Xavier 30-to-15 in the third quarter and took an 83-45 lead into the fourth quarter.
It was a relatively quiet night for Elmore who, after scoring eight points against the Musketeers, is now just 41 points short of hitting the 1,000-point mark as a Seton Hall player. She had four points and four rebounds in the fourth quarter as her team outscored Xavier 25-to-20 in the fourth quarter to seal their win.
Seton Hall's 108 points on Wednesday also broke the program single-game record for points scored.
With this win over Xavier, Seton Hall reached the 10-win mark for just the seventh time in conference play. Four of those 10-win conference regular seasons have come under head coach Anthony Bozzella’s tenure at Seton Hall.
The Pirates will travel to Villanova in their next game on Saturday, Feb. 27 with an opportunity to jump them in the Big East standings for fourth place and claim their revenge for an earlier 78-71 home loss to the Wildcats back in January.
Justin Sousa can be reached at justin.sousa@student.shu.edu. Follow him on Twitter @JustinSousa99.
