Seton Hall closes season with 76-72 win over St. John's

Date: March 3, 2019

By Ryan Clayton

 

The Seton Hall Pirates ended their regular season with a big win over the St John’s Red Storm, as Shadeen Samuels scored a career-high 33 points for the Pirates to come out on top 76-72. 

 

In the first quarter the Pirates came out on an offensive tear, scoring eight straight on the Red Storm, holding them scoreless for the first 2 minutes in this competition. Those early eight points all came from Samuels, who had a monstrous first quarter as she scored 14 points and tested the Johnnies from deep as she made all three of her threes in the first. St. John’s would fight back and eventually take a four point lead over Seton Hall, but it was ultimately the Pirates who would hold a four point lead as they ended the quarter 20-16.

 

The second quarter was all Seton Hall as they led for the entire second quarter, with the biggest lead being eight for the Pirates. Samuels continued her first quarter success, scoring seven more in the quarter and finishing with 21 points in the half. However, the second quarter was when we started to see Desiree Elmore emerge. Elmore scored over half her points in the second quarter, raking 9/19 in the second which helped the Pirates maintain a three point lead over the St. John’s Red Storm, 41-38. 

 

The third quarter started again with Samuels scoring five of the Hall’s first seven, as the Pirates would hold the lead for the first half of the third quarter. As well as the Pirates played up to this point, they had a big scoring drought to go along with poor defense that would allow the St. John's Red Storm to take a six point lead. Seton Hall would break the drought with good free throw shooting from Kaela Hilaire and Inja Butina, but would end the third quarter down by the largest margin of the game, 64-53.

  

The fourth quarter was back and forth for Seton Hall, as they started to develop a more balanced attack with multiple scorers getting involved. The Hall had a good run with just three minutes to go and would eventually tie the game up on a Samuels and-one making the score 70-70. Curteeona Brelove, who had eight on the day, got a tough lay-in to go to make the score 72-72. This would be the last time that the Johnnies would score, as Seton Hall scored the next two baskets and sunk two free throws to finish up the game and the regular season on top 76-72.

 

With this win, the Seton Hall Pirates lock in the No. 8 seed for the Big East Tournament, and will face off against the St John's Red Storm on March 9th.

 

Ryan Clayton can be reached at ryan.clayton@student.shu.edu. 

Posted in: Sports, Women's Basketball, WSOU