No. 18 DePaul women hold off Seton Hall 83-80 in semifinal

CHICAGO (AP) — Lexi Held scored 22 points, including a clutch corner 3, four players scored in double figures and No. 18 DePaul survived a tense final few minutes to defeat Seton Hall 83-80 in the Big East Conference semifinals on Sunday.

Seton Hall had two whacks at a tying basket off of inbounds plays in the last two seconds. Alexa Lewis had her first try go off the rim and out of bounds. A final try also missed and a putback came after time expired.

Depaul (27-5), the tournament’s top seed, advances to Monday’s championship game, facing either St. John’s or Marquette.

The Blue Demons never led by more than 11 and any double-digit lead was brief as fourth-seeded Seton Hall (19-12) was 49% shooting for the game, scoring 52 points in the paint. The Pirates connected on more field goals than DePaul (35-31) and held a 43-36 edge in rebounding.

Led by Held’s four 3-pointers, the Blue Demons were devastating from outside, making 14 of 35 from beyond the 3-point arc. Chante Stonewall added 18 points, making three from distance, and grabbed seven rebounds for DePaul. Kelly Campbell drained four 3-pointers, scoring 16 points and making five assists and Sonya Morris scored 14 points, including a pair of 3s, with six assists.

Desiree Elmore led the Pirates with 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting, adding 13 rebounds. Shadeen Samuels scored 13 and the trio of Lauren Park-Lake, Lewis and Mya Jackson each added 10 points. Park-Lane led with seven assists.

___

More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25