N.J.’s scrappiest college basketball player is 5-foot-3 … and she’s ‘the best

Standing side-by-side on the court at Seton Hall’s Walsh Gym, center Sidney Cooks towered a foot above point guard Lauren Park-Lane. But don’t let the contrasting heights fool you.

The 5-foot-3 floor general always finds a way to feed the ball inside to her 6-4 teammate. And during Seton Hall’s New Year’s Eve victory over Butler — for one brief, crowd-pleasing moment — the co-captains’ roles reversed.

Cooks made a bounce pass around defenders to Park-Lane as she cut underneath the basket for a layup. The play not only showcased Park-Lane’s fearlessness in the paint despite her small stature, but the trust her teammates have in her to finish.

“It is just kind of funny that the point guard and the post player can switch those roles. She lays it up with confidence and I can come out and shoot the ball when she is down there. It just really opens it up for everyone else,” Cooks said.

“It is great. I don’t think I’ve ever had a point guard that was as small as Lauren, but she is the definition of hard work and confidence.”

In her fourth season, Park-Lane, affectionately known as “LP,” has been the catalyst of Seton Hall’s recent success. As the Pirates (13-4, 6-1 BIG EAST) handed No. 24 St. John’s its first loss on Wednesday, she finished with a double-double of 15 points and 11 assists. In a 76-60 victory over Providence on Sunday, she scored 19 points and had nine assists.

“I’ve never coached someone with a bigger heart than Lauren, without a doubt,” Seton Hall head coach Anthony Bozzella said.

Park-Lane is averaging a team-high 20.5 points per game — third-best in the conference — and with her running the show, Seton Hall has won 11 of its last 12 games, including two over AP Top-25 opponents. The Pirates are a half-game behind UConn, which is 6-0 in the Big East. That showdown is coming on Jan. 19.

One of 20 NCAA Division I point guards named to the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award watch list, the Wilmington, Delaware native has put herself on the map after receiving just four scholarship offers in high school because of her size.

“I wasn’t being recruited and it was hard for me. It was to the point where sometimes I wanted to quit, but my dad always used to be like, ‘No, it will come.’ And he was right. It did come,” Park-Lane said. “I am grateful for it now because it led me to the perfect position being at Seton Hall.”

Born to play

Park-Lane became the eighth player in program history to reach 1,500 points during last week’s win against Georgetown – scoring 12 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter while her family sat courtside.

Among those in attendance was her older cousin, Doris Park-Sherman, who made the trip from California. She is one of several in the family to compete at the NCAA Division I level. She played forward for Pepperdine University from 2009-12.