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Preview: Pirates Look to Even Season Series With Bluejays in Tuesday Matchup

Date: February 7, 2023

By: Dovid Holtzman

Azana Baines against Marquette on Dec. 4.

Kayla Fonseca/WSOU

Seton Hall Women’s Basketball (15-8, 8-5 CONF) is back in action this week with a key matchup against the Creighton Bluejays (16-6, 10-4 CONF) on Wednesday night in South Orange, N.J. As the Pirates are “in position to be in position” for the NCAA Tournament in March, the game against a struggling but still elite Bluejays team may be a bellwether game to pin the rest of the season on.

The Pirates are streaky this season. Key wins over then-ranked BIG EAST rivals Marquette (15-8, 8-6 CONF) and St. John’s (17-5, 8-5 CONF) show promise, but two blowout losses to the UConn Huskies (21-3, 13-0 CONF) and a four-game losing streak in conference play mean that this game is a must-win to put the team on the March Madness map.

The Hall is led by team captains Lauren Park-Lane (19.9 Points Per Game - 2.5 Rebounds Per Game - 5.9 Assists Per Game) and Sidney Cooks (15.2 PPG - 6.3 RPG - 1.4 APG). Park-Lane cemented herself in Pirate history recently, taking the number-four position on the all-time team list for career points.

But after playing three-straight games without hitting a three-pointer during Seton Hall’s losing streak (including the team’s previous matchup with Creighton), Park-Lane rebounded to drain six of her 12 attempts from three against the Providence Friars (13-12, 4-10 CONF) on Saturday, recording 21 points on the night.

Likewise, Cooks also showed up in a big way on Saturday. After averaging 18 PPG in the first six games of conference play, Cooks struggled against Connecticut, Marquette, and Georgetown. But she came back with a 34-minute game against Providence, scored 12 of her 20 shots, and recorded 29 points in the win, tying her season high against Rutgers in November.

Seton Hall lost their previous game against Creighton on Jan. 11, 75-53. The Pirates struggled at both ends of the court in Omaha: offensively, they missed each of their twelve three-point attempts, although they managed to shoot 38.2 percent from the field. On defense, the team struggled to counter the Bluejays’ 56.4 percent FG shooting.

The Bluejays are led by a pair of guards, Morgan Maly (16.3 PPG - 6.0 RPG - 1.6 APG) and Lauren Jensen (16.3 PPG - 3.9 RPG - 3.8 APG), who are complemented by Emma Ronsiek (13.3 PPG - 4.9 RPG - 2.5 APG) at the forward position. The three juniors are each closing in on 1,000 career points, led by Ronsiek and Maly, who each have over 900—two players who totaled 194 points in six matchups against the Pirates.

But Creighton also dealt with its fair share of struggles this season. Once ranked as high as No. 13 on the AP Poll, the team hasn’t made the list since the second week in January. Their December matchups saw three consecutive losses against ranked opponents: No. 21 Arkansas, No. 2 UConn, and No. 8 Stanford.

An early January, four-point loss to Providence kept Creighton off the national charts—although they still place No. 26 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are used to determine who makes the Tournament in March.

Seton Hall’s depth goes beyond their team captains: forwards Azana Baines (5.6 PPG - 3.5 RPG) and Mya Bembry (5.0 PPG - 6.2 RPG) have played some of their strongest basketball in the last few games. Baines shot 88.9 percent from the field and put up 17 points against Providence Saturday, to go with a double-double last Tuesday against St. John’s.

Mya Bembry’s contributions to the Pirates go beyond the stat-sheet. At 6-foot-1, the senior from West Orange, N.J. is as tall as any player the Bluejays have to offer.

Coach Bozzella played her a season-high 40 minutes against St. John’s, where she grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds—a feat she followed up with 12 against Providence. And while she isn’t a consistent high-scorer, her season-high 14 points against Georgetown kept the Pirates in the game late.

Add Sha’Lynn Hagans (9.7 PPG - 3.0 RPG - 1.2 APG) to the mix, and the Pirates are a formidable opponent, even against a top 30 team like the Bluejays. If Park-Lane and Cooks continue their turnaround from a weak mid-season and if Bembry’s stifling defense can stop the dominating offense of Jensen, Ronsiek, and Maly, the Pirates have a clear path to a win in Walsh.

After the matchup against Creighton, the Pirates have two games against a struggling DePaul, two games against No. 15 Villanova, and one game each against two teams they already beat this season: Xavier and Butler. As March gets closer and closer, the Pirates need a strong win to put themselves in position to make the cut.

If Villanova (20-4, 11-2 CONF) is out of reach, a home game against the struggling, but once-ranked Creighton is a prime opportunity for Seton Hall to put themselves in the limelight.

Tipoff against Creighton is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday in Walsh Gymnasium. Ryan Johnston and Joe Walls will be on the call on 89.5 FM WSOU, with coverage set to kick off at 6:30.

Dovid Holtzman can be reached at dovid.holtzman@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Game Previews, Women's Basketball

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