Seton Hall University
Georgetown
RV/#25 Pirates Outlast Georgetown in Overtime, 99-85
1/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Graduate Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) scored a game-high 32 points and junior Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) finished with 29, as the RV/#25 Seton Hall University women's basketball came back to beat Georgetown in overtime, 99-85, on Sunday afternoon at McDonough Gymnasium.
Once again Seton Hall, which stretched its current winning streak to six and improved to 19-2 overall and 8-1 in the BIG EAST at the midway point of the conference season, found a way to pick up a win on the road.
Two weeks ago at Providence, Seton Hall trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half, before coming all the way back to grab a one-point win. Again on Sunday, the Pirates faced a double-digit deficit in the second half, trailing by as many as 11 at Georgetown, and seemingly unable to solve the Hoya's interior precision.
Georgetown (4-17, 2-7) hit seven of its first 12 field goal attempts in the second half, which prohibited SHU from making any headway in chipping away at its deficit until the Pirates exploded for eight unanswered in a span of just 54 seconds, tying the score at 67-67 with 7:48 to play in regulation as Simmons juked around a defender in the paint and connected on an eight-foot jumper.
The Hoyas bounced back, and stretched the lead back to four with 35 seconds remaining when Dominique Vitalis scored in the paint. At that point, Seton Hall floor general Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) had fouled out with 17 points, and it was Richardson-Smith that came through in the clutch, quickly burying a 3-pointer at the other end to make it a one-point game.
Richardson-Smith was held scoreless in the first half, missing all five of her field goal attempts, but roared to life in the second, scoring 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting with four 3-pointers.
At the other end, Georgetown freshman phenom Dorothy Adomako went to the line for two, missing the first but making the second to make it a two-point game. Prior to that miss, Georgetown, which was a 65.3 percent free-throw shooting team on the season heading into Sunday's game, had made 13-of-14 attempts and Adomako was 6-of-6.
Needing one more bucket for the tie, Daisha Simmons drove baseline early in the possession and got it to go, knotting the score at 82-82. Georgetown held for the last shot and Katie McCormick fired a three from the corner as time expired, but she drew front iron resulting in the first overtime game of the season for The Hall.
The overtime period was all Seton Hall, as the Pirates quickly built a huge lead and never looked back. Daisha Simmons scored on the first two possessions for The Hall to give the Pirates their largest lead since early in the first half. Richardson-Smith closed it out, getting in a passing lane at the top of the key for a steal leading to an uncontested two at 2:35, and following that with her fifth make from downtown, making it 95-85 with fewer than two minutes to play.
Seton Hall was 6-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range in overtime, while Georgetown shot just 1-of-10.
The 99 points scored are the fourth-most in a single game in program history, as Seton Hall narrowly missed out on hitting the century mark for the second time in eight days.
Daisha Simmons topped 30 points for the second time this season, shooting 12-of-20 from the field and 8-of-9 from the line with six assists. Richardson-Smith shot 11-of-18 during the second half and overtime to reach 29 points, Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) made it four players in double figures for Seton Hall, hitting a pair of threes to finish with 10 points and seven rebounds.
After a slow start in the first half, Seton Hall utilized a 12-0 run over 5:49 to seemingly take control of the game. Ka-Deidre Simmons connected from three to make it 13-8, and Daisha Simmons hit a short jumper on the next possession to push the lead to seven.
Georgetown used the three ball to get back into the game. The Hoyas average just 4.3 makes from downtown per game, but hit five in the first half, three coming from Brittany Horne. Overall, Georgetown outscored Seton Hall 32-15 over the final 10 minutes of the first half and led by as many as 12 points, but a Johnson triple just before halftime pulled the Pirates within nine at the break.
Seton Hall returns to action next Sunday afternoon when it hosts the St. John's Red Storm in Walsh Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
