SOUTH ORANGE, NJ - The Seton Hall pirates took on the St. Joseph’s Hawks inside Walsh Gymnasium this past Thursday in the first game of post season play.

Seton Hall missed out on the NCAA March Madness Tournament after losing to Creighton in overtime in the second round of the Big East Tournament. Instead, the Pirates qualified for the WNIT tournament and were scheduled to play St. Joseph’s. Perhaps angry at the selection committee for not including the Hall in the Big Dance, Lauren Park-Lane displayed her offensive talent scoring 32 points in the contest. Park-Lane led a ticked off Seton Hall team to a smooth 69-61 victory over the Hawks and to the second round of the WNIT tournament.

Park-Lane’s points came early and often. She had her way in the first quarter and outscored St. Joseph’s 19-13 by the end of the first quarter. Park-Lane shot four of five from beyond the arch and five of six from the charity stripe. She also had a rebound and an assist. Sydney Cooks started the game off hot as well netting seven first quarter points and four rebounds. Victoria Keenan and Amari Wright also added to Seton Hall’s point total scoring three and two respectively. The Pirates’ 68-percent shooting first quarter propelled them to 31 points and led 31-13 after one.

SIGNUPSCRIPT

Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella spoke in the post-game presser about the big lead Seton Hall amassed in the explosive first. “Even when we were up 31-13 in the first quarter, I knew it would come down to the end” said Bozzella. He also spoke about his friendship with opposing coach Cindy Griffin. Prior to the game, he told the media that they both reminisced at how many close games they had played. Bozzella reiterated how he knew the game would be close and that the team would have to play a complete 40 minutes of basketball to get the victory.

The Hawks slowed Park-Lane in the second quarter and held her to two second quarter points. The Hall as a team only scored 11 points, but were able to St. Joseph’s to 13 points. Seton Hall also had a much worse half shooting the basketball cashing out on only 28.6% of shots from the floor and 12.5% from three. The second quarter ended 42-26 in favor of Seton Hall.

The third quarter was the best offensive quarter for the Hawks. The squad slowly clawed back into the contest scoring a game high 20 points in the third. Laura Ziegler led the charge with eight points, two assists and a rebound. She cashed out on a 3-pointer with 7:39 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 10. After a mid-quarter layup, she scored the last bucket of the quarter. The 3-pointer cut the Seton Hall’s lead to 9 with the score reading 55-46. This was the closest the score had been since Seton Hall initially pulled away in the first. **BULLSEYE

St. Joseph’s kept battling in the fourth quarter and eventually narrowed the lead to two points with 1:43 remaining. Lauren Park-Lane certainly cooled off since that amazing first quarter, but she came up huge late in the game. She was fouled with just over a minute remaining and went to the free throw line. She made both shots and Seton Hall extended the lead to 4. After a few stops and a bunch of timeouts, Seton Hall had the ball again with half a minute remining. Park-Lane was fouled again and went to the line to shoot two. With ice in her veins, she cashed out on both, and the Hall led 67-61. The Pirates held on to win 69-61 in a game that looked out of hand, but turned out to be close contest.

Seton Hall will play another game in Walsh Gymnasium for the second round of the WNIT Tournament. Syracuse will travel to South Orange on Monday to face Seton Hall. Coach Bozzella touched on just how important it is to have a home game in the post-game press conference. “To have another home game on Monday is a direct tribute to our school and administration and our fans” Bozzella said. He continued with more praise saying, “You have to have an administration that supports it financially and they went above and beyond which they always do.” Bozzella jokingly mentioned that he was very excited to not get on a bus and drive five hours north to Syracuse. After that he seriously thanked the fans for showing out all season and calls for another big fan presence on Monday night. The game will be played at 7 p.m.