Dissecting Lauren Park-Lane and her career-high, 37-point game

Lauren Park-Lane packs a big game in a small frame. It was on full display at Paradise Jam.

Last Friday, Lauren Park-Lane posted a new career high, scoring 37 points against the Wisconsin Badgers at Paradise Jam. Park-Lane had the entire bag on display, scoring from inside, outside, and everywhere in between.

The 37-point game was the highlight of a very strong tournament for Park-Lane. She led Seton Hall to a 2-1 record, with their only loss being by one point. The senior point guard averaged 25.3 points, 6.7 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in a whopping 38.3 minutes per game.

Despite her small frame, Park-Lane found her spots with relative ease against Wisconsin. She did so by manipulating the game and her opponent in a variety of ways. She showcased a level of manipulation that she has to have in order to succeed. Every possession counts, especially when you’re constantly at a size disadvantage. The process is just as important as the result.

Here is a look at each part of that process.

How does Lauren Park-Lane overcome her size deficit to destroy a defense?

Step 1: Set the tone

Park-Lane opens things up inside for herself by shooting the ball with tremendous confidence from outside. She opened the game with a quick straightaway 3. The lack of hesitation places a sense of urgency on the defense that will be important throughout the game. Even though she didn’t make this first one, it set the tone for what was to come.

Just a few possessions later, Park-Lane brought the ball up in transition. No one stepped up, so she let another 3 fly. This one connected. This forceed the defense to stay attached to her going forward.

Step 2: Set the table

In addition to her 37 points, Park-Lane recorded seven assists. She used her vision, ball movement, and trust in her teammates to set them up for easy buckets. Simultaneously, this also helped open things up for Park-Lane. A few quick passes and some off-ball directing resulted in an easy 3 for her not long after her first one.

Now that she had gotten her teammates more involved, Wisconsin couldn’t fully focus on Park-Lane. Seton Hall did a great job of keeping their players moving, forcing the defense to constantly shift. Park-Lane made smart passes within the scheme, which usually created opportunities for her when the ball returned to her hands.

Again, she didn’t convert the shot, but she showed the defense that she was unafraid to get inside
and take some contact. Getting this downhill look was the final step for her to have this game in her control. She gave Wisconsin a taste of what was to come shortly before the half with this impressive finish in traffic.

Step 3: Feast

Park-Lane had only 14 points at halftime of this game. She doubled that in the third quarter.

By this point of the game, Park-Lane was laser focused. Her quick decisions kept the defense guessing and allowed her to get to her spots the entire half. Here, she manipulated the defense by rejecting the screen, looking right before driving strong to the left and getting right to the block for the easy floater.

When a player of Park-Lane’s caliber is feeling it, it’s easy to see. Despite having not hit a 3 since early in the first quarter, she knew this was good as soon as she saw the defender go under the screen.

A little over a minute later, she broke out the playground handles. As filthy as this take was, there was no wasted movement. The initial cross-push shifted the defender. As soon as she squared up, Park-Lane crossed right back to the left and blew by her, finding the open space in the lane for the floater.

By this point in the quarter, Park-Lane was in full maestro mode. She directed her bigs to screen exactly where she wanted them, but everyone on the court knew who was going to score on this possession. The first roll didn’t work, but it didn’t matter. The second screen forced the switch, which gave Park-Lane the opening she needed to get to the paint. The and-1 was just icing on the cake.

Eventually, Park-Lane got into such a zone, she didn’t even need a screen. This was another possession where everyone knew who was going to score, it was just a matter of how she was going to do it. Seton Hall spaced the floor and left Park-Lane’s dominant hand side open. She got her defender on an island, and simply lulled her to sleep. The moment her defender looked to apply pressure, Park-Lane zoomed past her and finished over the help.

Park-Lane capped off the Paradise Jam with a 23-point, 9-assist performance against Georgia. She led Seton Hall to an 86-80 over the Bulldogs, handing them their first season loss. The Pirates’ next game is Friday, Dec. 2 against Xavier and Park-L:ane is definitely a player to keep an eye on as the season goes along.