Pirates' Rally Falls Short Against VCU, 62-61

Thursday, November 24

St. Thomas, USVI / UVI Sports & Fitness Center

3:15 PM

Seton Hall University

2-3,0-0Big East

Virginia Commonwealth

2-3,0-0Atlantic 10

VCU

Seton Hall

11/24/2022 7:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE - VCU (.pdf)

Seton Hall rallied from down eight with under 3:00 minutes left to take the lead, but couldn't keep it.

ST. THOMAS, USVI – The Seton Hall women's basketball team rallied from an eight-point deficit with just 2:43 left to play to take the lead, but was edged by VCU, 62-61, in its first game at the 2022 Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, USVI on Thursday.

A pair of free-throws by Lauren Park-Lane (Wilmington, Del.) with 27 seconds remaining gave The Hall its first lead since early in the second quarter. But VCU's Mary-Anna Asare banked in a layup with three seconds left to give the Rams the late lead. A potential game-winning turnaround jumper from Sidney Cooks (Kenosha, Wis.) rimmed off as time expired.

Park-Lane led The Hall with 16 points, with 13 coming in the fourth quarter. She also had seven assists, three rebounds and two steals. Cooks finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while senior Sha'Lynn Hagans (Manassas, Va.) had 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

THE STORY:
A free-throw by Park-Lane put The Hall up, 14-10, with 1:00 left in the first quarter, but the game's second 10 minutes belonged to the Rams. A jumper by Hagans gave the Pirates a 23-22 advantage, but then they went scoreless for the next 4:30, allowing the Rams to go on an 8-0 run and take a 30-22 lead. Cooks hit a three to cut their deficit to four, but VCU closed the half with five unanswered points to take a 35-26 advantage into halftme.

The Pirates shot just 32.3% from the field in the opening half, compared to 45.5% for the Rams.

Buckets by Mya Bembry (West Orange, N.J.) and Cooks to open the third quarter cut Seton Hall's deficit to five points, but VCU responded with a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the game, a 42-30 advantage with 5:12 left in the quarter.

Trailing 60-52 with 2:43 remaining in the game, Park-Lane had a driving layup and followed it with a pair of free-throws a minute later to cut VCU's lead to 60-56. After a Rams' turnover, Jala Jordan (Philadelphia, Pa.) hit a clutch corner three-pointer to pull The Hall to within 60-59 with 53 seconds left. Following another VCU turnover, Park-Lane calmly hit her two free-throws to give The Hall the lead with 27 seconds left. VCU's Asare found a seam, however, on the baseline and was able to bank in winner with three seconds left.

Nice play by Jala Jordan here, coming up with the steal and taking it the other way for two!!#HALLin pic.twitter.com/lTsMWU8hEj
— Seton Hall Women's Basketball (@SHUWBB) November 24, 2022

THE NUMBERS:

Seton Hall was 23-for-59 (39.0%) from the floor for the game, while VCU was 27-for-56 (48.2%). The Hall was 5-for-15 (33.3%) from three-point range, while the Rams were 3-for-13 (23.1%).
Park-Lane had a team-high 16 points and seven assists to go with three rebounds and two steals.
VCU out-rebounded The Hall, 36-to-29. Offensive rebounds were even at eight apiece.
Hagans finished with 14 points on an efficient 6-for-10 shooting, including 2-for-4 from three-point range. She also had a team-high seven rebounds.
Seton Hall was 10-for-14 (71.4%) from the free-throw line, while VCU was 5-for-6 (83.3%).
Cooks had 14 points and five rebounds. She was also 2-for-4 from three-point range.
Seton Hall forced 22 turnovers, while VCU forced 14. The Pirates had a 22-to-14 advantage in points-off-turnovers.
Jordan had a solid game off the bench with a season-high seven points and a team-best three steals in only 11 minutes.

THE NOTES:

Seton Hall drops to 2-3 on the young season, while VCU improves to 2-3.
The Pirates are now 3-2 all-time against VCU.
Cooks has now reached double-figures in scoring in 23 consecutive games dating back to last season.
Hagans has now opened her Seton Hall career with five straight double-digit scoring games.
The Hall falls to 2-3 all-time when playing on Thanksgiving Day.
Hagans is the fifth different player to lead Seton Hall in rebounding in only five games this season.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action on tomorrow when it continues play at the 2022 Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Hall will take on Wisconsin at 1:00 p.m. ET. The contest will be streamed live by ESPN3 and you can hear John Makuch and Will Swankie provide the action at 89.5 FM WSOU.