Seton Hall University
NJIT
Balanced Attack Leads WBB Past NJIT
11/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Although it was superb play from Seton Hall's guards that powered the offense through much of the game, the Pirates turned to their post players down the stretch to hold off NJIT and pick up the win.
After a pair of made free throws from sophomore center Chizoba Ekedigwe (Laurel, Md.), who finished the game with a career-high seven points, Seton Hall found itself with a six points lead, 57-51, with just over six minutes to play.
NJIT battled back, twice shrinking its deficit to just one, but Seton Hall answered with buckets from senior forward Alexandra Maseko (Harare, Zimbabwe) and junior center Brittany Webb (New York, N.Y.) to keep the Pirates in the lead.
A three-pointer from NJIT's Sarah Olson with only 1:44 remaining allowed the Highlanders to tie the score at 64-64, but they would never retake the lead. Webb answered Olson's trey on the other end as Maseko found her underneath the basket for an easy two points.
Olson retied the game just 30 seconds later by converting a pair of free throws but the Pirates defense clamped down, forcing NJIT to miss its final four attempts from the field while Maseko and Morris combined to go 3-for-4 from the line down the stretch to ice the game for Seton Hall.
Morris, who sunk two free throws with eight seconds to play to put Seton Hall up by three, finished the game a perfect 8-for-8 from the line, a new career-high with eight made free throws. Simmons was 5-for-12 from the field and Maseko was the third Pirate in double figures with 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting. Senior Terry Green (Brentwood, N.Y.) finished with nine points.
In all, scoring balance told the story for Seton Hall throughout the game. In the early moments, four different players had a field goal when junior Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) tied the score at 10-10 with a baseline jumper, her first points in a SHU uniform.
Simmons made it five different players with a field goal as she slashed through the paint with the shot clock winding down, and converted a three-point play fewer than eight minutes into the action.
The momentum swung toward both teams at separate points during an opening half that featured five ties and nine lead changes.
Simmons converted a three-point play when she drained a baseline jumper as she was fouled with 6:12 remaining in the first, and she made it five-straight points with another bucket on the next SHU possession.
However, NJIT kept Seton Hall from scoring for the remainder of the first half, and ended the period on a 7-0 to take a 27-22 lead into the locker room.
The Pirates were down by six points when freshman forward Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) drained a long-distance shot to cut the deficit in half, ending an 0-for-8 stretch from three-point range to start the game for Seton Hall.
Once again facing a six-point deficit it was Morris sparking a 9-0 run for Seton Hall that allowed the team to stretch its lead to five points for the first time. Morris hit two free throws at the 14:49 mark and then knocked down a three-pointer just 35 seconds later to put Seton Hall in front by one.
Seton Hall took its largest lead of the game as Green found Simmons from the wing as she slashed through a pair of defenders for an easy lay in to make it 43-38, and the lead was five once again, 46-41, when Green buried at three with just over 10 minutes to play, career three-point basket No. 100 for the senior, who also passed 500-career points in a Seton Hall uniform on Friday night.
Olson led all scorers with 20 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting and Rayven Johnson finished with 19 for NJIT, shooting 8-for-15 from the field.
Seton Hall (1-0) returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 11, when it welcomes Lafayette College to Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, N.J. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
