Seton Hall University
Marquette
RV/RV Pirates Ease Past Marquette 88-58
1/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Graduate guard Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) led all scorers with 24 points as the RV/RV Seton Hall University women's basketball team tied its best start to BIG EAST play since the 2000-01 season with a comfortable 88-58 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles on Friday night in Walsh Gym.
Seton Hall improved to 16-2 overall and remained in a tie atop the BIG EAST standings with a 5-1 conference record. The Pirates will host RV/RV DePaul University on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. with sole possession of first place in the league on the line.
Friday night's win marked the first time the Pirates have won consecutive games in the series with Marquette and the 30-point margin of victory was the largest for The Hall over a BIG EAST foe since beating Providence 95-65 on Feb. 16, 1994. It was the 17th-straight win in Walsh Gym, as the Pirates are in the midst of the second-longest home winning streak in program history.
In leading the Pirates offensively, Simmons shot 9-of-14 from the field and hits both of her 3-point attempts, also tallying seven rebounds and four steals.
In all, Seton Hall saw four players score in double figures in the win. Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) filled out the stat sheet with 17 points, eight assists, and seven boards. Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) was one rebound shy of finishing with a double-double, tallying 16 points and nine boards. Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) showed off her long-range shooting touch once again, nailing three 3-pointers en route to a 15 point performance.
Marquette suffered through separate seven and 10 shot field goal droughts in the first half as the Golden Eagles shot just 23.1 percent (9-of-39) from the field, the lowest single-half shooting percentage for any Seton Hall opponent this season.
The Pirates got off to a slow start offensively, falling behind 7-3 after an Arlesia Morse triple before the first media timeout, but SHU responded with 11 unanswered over the next 3:59, and pushed its lead to double figures for the first time as Richardson-Smith drove baseline down the left side and used the glass for an easy two.
That bucket was part of a larger 19-2 Pirate run, with Marquette knocking down just one of 18 shot attempts during that stretch. Daisha Simmons hit a midrange jumper at 8:23 to cap it off and make it 22-9. It was Simmons connecting on a jumper once again with 6:30 remaining in the opening period, stretch the Seton Hall advantage to 31-11; that basket concluded a stretch of 11-straight points for The Hall.
Things didn't get better for Marquette to open the second as the Golden Eagles hit just two of their first nine field goal attempts, allowing the Pirates to quickly stretch the lead to 30.
Daisha Simmons connected for three in the corner to surpass 20 points and make it 55-24. On the next Seton Hall possession, she played the roll of facilitator, finding Johnson for a backdoor layup to make it 11 unanswered for The Hall, prompting Marquette to call timeout.
McKayla Yentz came off the bench to lead Marquette with 12 points, and Kenisha Bell also finished in double figures with 10 points.
Seton Hall's 47.1 percent shooting from the field was its third highest mark of the season, and the best offensive production since the Pirates beat Fairfield 79-47 on Dec. 18. SHU also knocked down eight 3-pointers, the most for The Hall since a win over Lafayette back on Dec. 7.
