WSOU

Recap: Pirates Defeat Lehigh 87-77 at Walsh Gym

Date: November 17, 2021

By: Joe Cammarota

Seton Hall's Andra Espinoza-Hunter stands on the court during a women's basketball game vs. Lehigh.

Seton Hall Athletics

Despite jumping out to a huge lead at halftime, the Seton Hall women’s basketball team secured a close victory on Tuesday night, as they defeated the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, 87-77.

Seton Hall was spurred to victory by Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lauren Park-Lane, who scored 22 and 20 points, respectively, with the latter also spreading the wealth with her passing, contributing seven assists to the winning effort.

In the first quarter, it was a parallel of how the game would go as Lehigh and Seton Hall participated in some back-and-forth action. In fact, Lehigh looked like they got the upper hand early, jumping out to a 12-4 lead five minutes into the contest. However, Seton Hall fought back and ended up only trailing by three, 19-16 at the end of the first period of play.

The second quarter is where the Lady Pirates really took off. Both teams took a bunch of shots from deep, but Lehigh couldn’t convert like Seton Hall did, as the Lady Pirates shot three at a 37.5% clip in the second. In addition, the Hall was dominant on the boards this period, not only preventing second chances off long misses for Lehigh, but also by creating second chances themselves.

In the second quarter, the Lady Pirates grabbed 16 rebounds to Lehigh’s six. This huge discrepancy in the rebound department is one reason Seton Hall was able to outscore their opposition 33-16 in the second, ending the first half leading by 14, 49-35.

However, what looked to be a runaway game for Seton Hall was not, as out of halftime Lehigh stormed back. Despite being down 14, Lehigh did not give up, and decided they wanted to push as much as possible to potentially reclaim a lead.

Lehigh was scorching hot from the field in the third, having a 61% field goal percentage, and shooting 50% from behind-the-arc. Mackenzie Kramer and Megan Walker lead the charge in the third quarter for Lehigh, combining for 17 of the 28 points scored for the team in the third period of play.

After leading by 14 at the end of the first half, the Seton Hall lead was cut to five, as the Lady Pirates only led 68-63. In the fourth quarter, the tight play continued as each teams’ star players attempted to will their team to victory.

For Seton Hall, Espinoza-Hunter and Park-Lane led the charge. Espinoza-Hunter hit multiple key threes in the final four minutes, with the dagger coming with 38 seconds left in the game after she took a pass from Park-Lane as she drilled a three.

Espinoza-Hunter and Park-Lane combined for 17 as the Lady Pirates were able to take down Kramer and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.

The Pirates now improves to 2-1, bouncing back from a poor performance against Fordham from last Saturday. With the team on the right track, they hope to get on a winning streak as they travel on the road to take on Iowa in the 2021 Cancun Challenge.

Joe Cammarota can be reached at joseph.cammarota@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Women's Basketball, WSOU

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