WBB2K22: Hoops Report 1

Seton Hall 81, Mount St. Mary's 68

Early in the second quarter Seton Hall found itself up 26-20 as guard Andra Espinoza-Hunter made all of her first five shots on her way to 13 points at that point. Three of those first five shots were three pointers.

As Mount St. Mary's closed the gap to trail only 28-25, Espinoza-Hunter connected on her sixth straight basket to expand the lead to five with just under six minutes to play in the second quarter. As the game advanced to the fourth quarter Seton Hall was ahead 61-50. Despite Espinoza-Hunter having a scoreless quarter where she missed all five shots, her teammates lifted her up. Lauren Park-Lane took over the team lead with 16 points as the final period began.

Mount St. Mary got the Seton Hall lead down to 72-66 when Jessica Tomasetti made a layup with 3:19 to play. Espinoza-Hunter answered the bell with two free-throws to push the lead back to eight on the next possession.

The Pirates closed the night out with a 9-2 run to take the win. Park-Lane led all players with 24 points shooting 8-15. She also had four assists and four steals. Espinoza-Hunter had 21 points. Amari Wright shined on defense for Seton Hall with three steals.

North Carolina 92, North Carolina A&T 47

The host Tar Heels shot 54 percent overall including 7-14 from from three to down in-state foe North Carolina A&T. North Carolina's Alyssa Ustby shared the team lead with Carlie Littlefield scoring 15 points each. Ustby also led the team with seven rebounds. Three other Tar Heels scored at least 12 points, including Kennedy Todd-Williams who had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Point guard Deja Kelly had a strong start with 13 points, four assists and four rebounds. Eva Hadgson also scored 13 points making all of her five field goal attempts.

North Carolina A&T an NCAA Tournament qualifier last season made just two-of-14 threes for 14.3 percent. The Aggies also shot 36 percent overall and 56 percent from free-throw line. North Carolina A&T did out-rebound UNC 36-32 but the struggle to score and 36 turnovers were too much to deal with. Jazmin Harris was North Carolina A&T's lone bright spot as she scored 16 points shooting 8-13. The rest of the team shot 10-37.

Kansas State 103, Central Arkansas 40

The Wildcats jumped all over Central Arkansas with a 17-3 first quarter lead. Kansas State expanded that lead 23-3 in the second quarter as Wildcat center Ayoka Lee led the way with 16 points at that point. Kansas State went on to lead at the half 39-13 forcing 12 first half turnovers and only surrendering the ball to Central Arkansas three times.

Lee scored her 20th point with 8:46 to play in the third quarter putting Kansas State ahead 43-15. She finished the night with 43 points, shooting 17-25 from the field and 9-12 from the free-throw line. Lee also had nine rebounds, four blocks, three assists and three steals.

Central Arkansas was led by Randrea Wright's 17 points.

Belmont 88, Chattanooga 70

Belmont had a 53-34 lead at the half as Destinee Wells shot 5-6 with 16 points and four assists in the first half. The Bruins dominated host Chattanooga 30-13 in the first quarter but the home team fought back over the next two quarters. With 8:21 to play in the game Chattanooga scored the first six points in the fourth to close the Belmont lead to 68-62. From there Belmont went on a 16-6 run to go up 84-68 with Madison Bartley scoring nine points in less than three minutes.

Bartley finished the game with 21 points and Wells had 20 with eight assists. Both players combined to shoot 18-32 overall.

Chattanooga got 16 points each from Brooke Hampel and Abbey Cornelius.