Seton Hall University
Princeton
Pirates Top Princeton in WNIT Thriller
3/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 23, 2014
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's basketball team edged the Princeton Tigers, 75-74, on Sunday to clinch a berth in the WNIT Sweet 16 for the first time in the program's history. Sunday's win gives Seton Hall its first 20-win season since the 1994-95 campaign, one in which the Pirates (20-13) advanced to the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament.
After a lay-in by Princeton's Alex Wheatley with 22 seconds left, Seton Hall junior guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) held the ball at the top of the key in the game's determining possession. Simmons drove and put up a deflected shot that ended up in the hands of redshirt freshman Sidney Cook (Parkton, N.C.). The forward delivered an and-one lay-in, converting the eventual game-winning free throw with nine seconds left. The Pirates held Princeton (21-9) scoreless in the final nine seconds, as a 40-foot heave went off the top of the backboard as time expired.
Simmons finished with 23 points, shooting 10-of-17 from the field, while sophomore guard Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) hit all five of her three-point attempts to finish with 19 points and six rebounds. Princeton's Michelle Miller hardly missed, scoring a career-high 34 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. The Pirates had not given up more than 30 points in a single game to a player before Miller, who went 8-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Two free throws by Simmons gave Seton Hall a 70-69 lead with 2:33 to play, but Princeton responded as the Tigers did throughout the night in a game that saw 26 lead changes. Kristen Helmstetter knocked down a go-ahead trey with 2:16 on the clock to give the Tigers a 72-70 lead.
The two teams went scoreless for the next minute until junior guard Alexis Brown (Jacksonville, Fla.) came up with a steal. Brown passed the ball to Simmons up the court, who drew a foul. Freshman guard Tara Inman (Holmdel, N.J.) stepped to the line for the free throws after Simmons sat down until the 28 second mark due to an injury. Inman calmly hit the free throws to give the game its tenth tie before the final three possessions ensued.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Princeton used its perimeter talent to its full capabilities. Miller worked off a 22-point first half with eight points in three consecutive Princeton possessions to give the Tigers a 49-47 lead just over four minutes into the second half.
While Miller scored a career-high 34 points, she was limited to just four points in the final 15:50 of the game. Following a lay-in by Seton Hall junior forward Bra'Shey Ali (Plainfield, N.J.), Blake Dietrick and Annie Tarakchian canned consecutive three-balls to give Princeton a four-point lead.
The four-point advantage persisted until the halfway point of the second stanza, when Simmons and Richardson-Smith combined for six straight points to give the blue and white a two-point edge. Miller battled the Tigers right back before the final minutes, scoring four straight points off two free throws and a jumper to give the Tigers a one-point lead with 2:55 on the clock.
Miller sparked Princeton's offense early and often, hitting three triples in the first three minutes of the game. An 18-foot jumper with 15:45 left to go in the first half made it an 11-8 game in favor of the Tigers.
Brown penetrated in for a lay-in to cut Princeton's lead to just two with under 12 minutes to go in the first stanza after another jumper from the hands of Miller.
Down 22-18 with just under ten minutes to play, Richardson-Smith tallied a triple from the left wing and came up with a steal leading to a lay-in to give the Pirates a two-point lead. Following a Princeton bucket, senior Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) positioned herself on the block to nail a bucket off the glass as the Pirates led 24-22 with 7:46 to play in the first half.
The two teams stayed that way until there were 6.8 seconds left in the half, when Cook drilled a lay-in off a dime from Brown to put the Pirates up a deuce heading into the intermission.
The Pirates scored 34 points in the paint to Princeton's 16 while also outscoring the Tigers in points off turnovers with a 28-8 advantage. Princeton shot over 54 percent from both the field and three-point land, but turned it over 28 times in the one-point game.
Seton Hall awaits the winner of Monday's WNIT 2nd Round game between Harvard and Rutgers at 7 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J. The Pirates have guaranteed themselves a 34th game on the season, giving them the most games that Seton Hall has played in a single season since 1978-79.
For updates on the time and location of the Sweet 16 match-up for Seton Hall, check back to SHUPirates.com on Monday night.
