Seton Hall University
St. John's
Pirates to Play for BIG EAST Championship
3/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Box Score 
| Press Conference Video
ROSEMONT, ILL. - The top-seeded Seton Hall University Pirates will play for the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Championship for the first time since 1995 after dispatching No. 4 St. John's University, 72-60, in the conference semifinals on Monday night at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
Seton Hall, which won the BIG EAST Regular Season title for the first time in program history and advanced to the BIG EAST semifinals for the first time since 1996, will face either No. 2 DePaul or No. 3 Villanova in the championship game on Tuesday night. The Pirates' win was monumental for another reason, as they improved to 28-4 to set a new program record for victories, surpassing the old mark of 27, set by the 1993-94 team that advanced to the Sweet 16.
Graduate Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) scored a game-high 20 points, 14 of which came during the second half, when she shot 7-of-9 from the field. She also dished out eight assists to tie her own school record for a BIG EAST Tournament game, which she originally set Sunday night. Her 32-career assists in BIG EAST Tournament competition are also a school record.
Seton Hall had been eliminated from the BIG EAST Tournament by St. John's in each of the last two years, but found its revenge on Monday, winning the season series 2-1 and beating the Red Storm in back-to-back games for the first time since 2003-04.
Simmons was one of four players to score in double figures for Seton Hall, which seemed to have a different player step up during each phase of the game. Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) and Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) took turns leading The Hall during the first half, finishing with 15 and 14 points respectively. Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) finished with 12 points, eight of which came during the second half when SHU's guards took over.
Johnson dominated down the stretch in the first half, scoring all 14 of her points over the final 5:30 while shooting 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
Although Seton Hall got off to a slow start for a second-straight game, hitting just three of its first 12 field goal attempts, a pair of factors contributed to The Hall's comeback. Two St. John's starters, Aliyyah Handford and Amber Thompson, picked up their second fouls just 17 seconds apart with a little over 10 minutes to play in the period, and both missed an extended period of time, a critical factor because the Red Storm typically play with a rotation of just six.
Despite the low field goal percentage, Seton Hall never trailed by more than six, and once Richardson-Smith found her shot, the Pirates never trailed again. Her second three gave Seton Hall its first lead of the game, 14-13, and was the start of eight-straight SHU points for the lethal long-range shooter.
Once Richardson-Smith's third three of the half dropped around and in, the Pirates led 19-15 with eight minutes to play. As she was heating up, the Red Storm's offense stalled. St. John's missed eight-straight field goals and turned the ball over five times over a span of just 4:44 as Seton Hall orchestrated a 12-2 run.
The Red Storm stayed in the game by converting at the line, where they shot 9-of-10 in the first half, but Seton Hall's 3-point barrage continued as Johnson caught fire form the outside. She scored Seton Hall's last 14 points of the first half, capping off her big run with a fourth 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining.
Overall, Seton Hall shot 8-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half, while St. John's misfired on all six of its attempts.
After all of those 3-pointers powered Seton Hall in the first half, the Pirates did not hit a single shot from long-distance in the second, but they didn't need to. In fact, Seton Hall attempted just four threes over the final 20 minutes, instead using superb guard play, particularly from Ka-Deidre Simmons to close out the Red Storm.
Handford made her way to the rim on the first possession of the second half to pull St. John's within nine, but after Richardson-Smith answered with a bucket on the other end, the SHU lead would not reach single digits again.
The Red Storm did just enough to keep Seton Hall from pulling away, but anytime it looked like the score was about to tighten up, the Pirates came up with an answer. Up 54-42 approaching the 10-minute mark, Ka-Deidre Simmons turned over Danaejah Grant and coasted in for an uncontested layup on the break.
As Seton Hall built its largest lead at 68-51, the Pirates were shooting 15-of-25 (60.0 percent) from the field during the second half. SHU finished the game shooting 49.2 percent from the field, with a 56.7 percent clip (17-of-30) in the second period.
Tuesday night's BIG EAST Championship Game will air nationally on Fox Sports 1. Tipoff from Allstate Arena is scheduled for 8 p.m. (ET).
