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Preview: Pirates Face First Real Test Against Princeton Tigers on Monday

Date: November 13, 2022

By: Andrew Raccuglia

Shay Hagans goes up for the fastbreak lay-in against the Peacocks.

Seton Hall Athletics

Who is the best women’s college basketball team in the Garden State?

The Seton Hall Pirates (2-0) will have something to prove in their third game of the season Monday night as they take on the Princeton University Tigers (1-1).

The Tigers are looking for payback following their previous meeting on Dec. 11, 2021, where then-junior Lauren Park-Lane and then-graduate student Andra Espinoza-Hunter combined for 41 points in the Pirates’ 70-60 win at Princeton’s Jadwin Gymnasium.

The Hall has won two of their last three matchups with Princeton.

The Tigers were ranked No. 24 in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll and are the favorites to repeat as champions of the Ivy League following a 2022 Women’s NCAA Tournament appearance and their surprising First Round victory over the Kentucky Wildcats.  

However, the Tigers dropped a match against the Pirates’ Big East rival, the Villanova Wildcats, in a 69-59 loss at home on Friday. The efforts of the Tigers’ three double-digit scorers were not enough against the 2022 Big East Preseason Player of the Year, Maddy Siegrist, who scored a game-high 32 points for Villanova.

Friday’s loss cost them the No. 24 spot in the AP rankings and are now unranked as of Monday afternoon.

In Friday’s loss, Princeton’s Julia Cunningham scored a team-high 18 points, while Grace Stone had 17 with a career-high four treys. Paige Morton had 10 points, and Ellie Mitchell recorded 13 rebounds and five assists.

They had a .386 field goal percentage while shooting .476 from three-point range, and went .714 from the free throw line, recording 32 rebounds and three steals. The Tigers trailed most of Friday’s game, but a fourth quarter that featured six lead changes sealed the loss as they were held scoreless in the final four minutes.

On the other hand, the Pirates had a dominating 75-57 win against local non-conference rival Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. on Friday night. It was their first win against Rutgers since Nov. 16, 2015.

Leading the way for The Hall was senior Sydney Cooks with another dominating performance, going 12 for 19 with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Following the opener against Saint Peter’s on Nov. 7, she is now averaging an impressive 22.5 points-per-game and 13.5 rebounds-per-game. She passed 1,300 career points while scoring in double-digits for 20 consecutive games.

Lauren Park-Lane, of course, had another big night with 18 points (14.5 ppg), making four shots from three-point range and eight assists, putting her career assist total at 503.  

Senior Sha’Lynn Hagans, the Penn State transfer, scored 12 points while freshman Shailyn Pickney scored 10 points and had eight rebounds with three assists. Senior Mya Bembry also had a game-high 13 rebounds, with two assists and two blocks.

Over the course of their game against Rutgers, the Pirates had a .418 field-goal percentage and shot 36.7% from three, holding the Scarlet Knights to 31.3% on the court and 13.3% from behind the arc. The Hall made 8 of 13 from the free throw line, while forcing 13 turnovers to Rutgers’ 10, and held a 14-8 advantage in points-off-turnovers.

It was a commanding win which should give them momentum heading into Monday night’s game.  

The matchup against Princeton is the Pirates’ first high-profile game of the season, regardless of whether or not Princeton is a ranked program. The Tigers are on the rise, being the only New Jersey college to represent in the 2022 Women’s NCAA Tournament, and a win would prove that the Pirates can beat them in back-to-back meetings and match the success of Villanova in doing so.

The keys to Seton Hall’s success are to outperform Princeton from three-point range and make it an all-out defensive effort. Princeton’s strengths are their three-point shooting and rebounding abilities, being ranked 30th in the nation in rebounding margin (+6.7) and 40th from Three-Point Range (34.6%).

Should coach Tony Bozzella’s Pirates pull out a win, they would have their first staple victory to add to their resume for the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Plus, with three straight wins over Saint Peter’s, Rutgers, and Princeton, there should be little debate as to which team currently runs New Jersey.    

89.5 FM WSOU will have you covered for Monday night’s game, where Jackson Shank and Michael Federico will be on the call when coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. from Walsh Gymnasium.

Andrew Raccuglia can be reached at andrew.raccuglia@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Previews, Women's Basketball

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