Seton Hall
Preview: Pirates Host Marquette in Exciting Walsh Matchup
Date: December 19, 2021By: Jonathan Heite
Seton Hall Athletics
At noon, the Seton Hall women’s basketball team (4-5, 0-2 conference) will look to pick up their first Big East victory at the newly renovated Walsh Gymnasium against the Marquette Golden Eagles (8-2, 2-0 conference).
The Pirates are coming off a tough loss to UCF from this past Tuesday (68-56), where the team overcame a 17-point third quarter lead to make it within one score in the fourth but got outscored by nine points in the final period.
Some positives emerged from the night, as Andra Espinoza-Hunter scored 15 points and two steals to lead the way after going down with a lower-body injury less than a minute into the game. She ended up returning for the remainder of the game and even knocked down a clutch, buzzer-beating three-pointer that gave Seton Hall an early 18-17 lead.
Andra at the buzzer for THREE to take the one-point lead#HALLin ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/tGGueD8qjn
— Seton Hall Women’s Basketball (@SHUWBB) December 14, 2021
Right behind Espinoza-Hunter in the scoring column was Sidney Cooks, who collected 13 points and seven rebounds, Kailah Harris, who tallied a career-best seven points and two boards, and Amari Wright, who scored five points and distributed six assists in her first game back since the 87-77 victory over Lehigh back on Nov. 16.
Looking at Marquette, this is going to be a difficult matchup all around for the Pirates, as their Big East opponent has already picked up two conference victories against Xavier and Butler. Their last matchup dates back over a week ago on Dec. 11, where they defeated North Dakota, 89-65, at home.
In this victory, Marquette tied their all-time single-game assist record, with 33 total assists on 40 made field goals, and they also shot a season-best 58% from the floor.
Marquette dished out 33 assists tonight to tie the all-time program record in 89-65 win over North Dakota
— Marquette WBB (@MarquetteWBB) December 12, 2021
RECAP ➡️ https://t.co/DmU0ZQSsjS#muwbb pic.twitter.com/iel6mcIkuN
Four Golden Eagles scored in double digits, but Lauren Van Kleunen was the top scorer, as she collected her second-consecutive 20-point masterpiece as she scored 20 points on 10/11 shooting from the field.
After averaging 22.5 points per game and shooting 71 percent (22-of-33) from the field last week, Lauren Van Kleunen has been named to the @BIGEASTWBB Weekly Honor Roll‼️
— Marquette WBB (@MarquetteWBB) December 13, 2021
>> https://t.co/qHpPvSnB9o#muwbb pic.twitter.com/mo4e0Hhh9F
Behind Van Kleunen in the stat sheet was Karissa McLaughlin and Liza Karlen, who each finished with 13 points, and Jordan King ended with 11 points. Chloe Marotta also had a monster all-around offensive performance—scoring six points, 12 rebounds, and a career-best eight assists.
The Golden Eagles are on a roll, as they have won four straight while putting on an absolute defensive clinic. During this stretch, their opponents have only mustered 52.3 points-per-game, and Marquette has forced 17.3 turnovers and 8.5 steals-per-contest.
For a Seton Hall team that has had some offensive troubles throughout the early parts of the 2021-22 season, but also are second in the conference in the number of turnovers they commit per matchup (14), this could be a low-scoring defensive showdown between two top-tier teams of the conference.
Lauren Park-Lane, who had a season-low eight points against UCF after scoring over 20 points five times already this year, is still averaging the third most points-per-contest in the Big East (18.4) and a conference best 6.6 assists-per-game.
This could easily be a huge bounce-back game for the junior phenom and look for her, Espinoza-Hunter, and Cooks to be an offensive juggernaut for a solid defensive team in Marquette.
#ncaaW Plays of the Week
— NCAA Women’s Basketball (@NCAAWBB) December 15, 2021
1️⃣ WOW! @LaurennnPark3 with the incredible pass. @SHUWBB pic.twitter.com/pVU9v9S9VM
Today’s Big East matinee also has so much history between these two teams, as Seton Hall was picked one spot ahead (third) of Marquette (fourth) in the preseason polls, and the Pirates took down the Golden Eagles last season in a 77-66 home victory.
Marquette will surely be looking to get revenge against Seton Hall, and the only way to find out is to tune into 89.5 FM WSOU starting at 11:45 a.m., where John Makuch and Michael Stamm will be on the call.
Jonathan Heite is the Web Editor for WSOU Sports and can be reached at wsousportswebeditor@gmail.com.
Posted in: Game Previews, Sports, Women's Basketball