Seton Hall University
St. John's
Pirates Fall to St. John's at MSG
1/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Simmons has now scored in double-figures in eight-straight games for Seton Hall and led the Pirates in scoring for the second-straight game and fifth time this year. She shot 4-for-7 from the field and was 5-for-8 from the free throw line.
Seton Hall and St. John's went back and forth to start the game, but despite the Red Storm hitting six of its first 11 field goal attempts, Seton Hall grabbed a 15-14 lead on a pair of Simmons free throws.
From that point St. John's went on a run, outscoring the Pirates 10-0 over the next six minutes of action. Junior Brittany Webb (New York, N.Y.) put an end to the Red Storm scoring surge, finishing a layup as she took a hard foul and converting the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play and pull Seton Hall to within six, 24-18.
St. John's pushed its lead to 11 points following a Briana Brown triple with fewer than four minutes remaining in the opening half and the Red Storm led by 18, 40-22, at the break.
St. John's shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) from the field in the first half and was 3-for-8 from three-point range. Long distance shooting had been a bright spot for Seton Hall over the past six games, however the Pirates were just 1-for-9 from three in the opening half on Saturday.
Aliyyah Handford led all scorers with 12 first-half points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor. Simmons scored nine of her 14 points in the opening period to lead Seton Hall. The Pirates only turned the ball over eight times through 20 minutes of action but St. John's capitalized on those extra opportunities, holding a 12-2 edge in points off turnovers.
After the intermission Seton Hall was the first team to get its offense on track, outscoring St. John's 6-3 in the early going and cutting the Red Storm lead to just 15, 43-28, on a Terry Green (Brentwood, N.Y.) baseline jumper with under 15 minutes to play.
St. John's Keylantra Langley answered on the other end to record the Red Storm's second field goal of the half and the SJU lead extended to 20 points with a Nadirah McKenith three pointer.
Sparked by freshman Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) the Pirates went on a 10-0 run to pull back within 17 points with 5:47 still to play. Coming out of a media timeout Simmons hit a free throw then Richardson-Smith came away with a steal on back-to-back possessions, getting the ball out to Simmons for a fast-break two and then going all the way down to score on her own 13 seconds later.
Senior Brittany Morris (Raleigh, N.C.) drained her first three pointer of the game to make it eight-straight points for the Pirates and Richardson-Smith capped the run with another field goal to make the score 62-45. Shenneika Smith answered the SHU run with a pair of field goals to put St. John's back ahead by 20 points.
Webb finished the game with seven points and six rebounds for Seton Hall, while sophomore Alexis Brown (Jacksonville, Fla.) scored eight points and Morris contributed seven.
The Pirates struggled from three-point range, shooting just 2-for-16 despite shooting 41.7 percent from three over the past five games. Seton Hall also snapped a six-game stretch of hitting at least five three-point field goals and the Pirates were outrebounded (43-28) for the first time in nine games.
Seton Hall (7-9, 2-1) returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 15, when it hosts Marquette University at Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, N.J. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
