Pirates Head West For Tournament
11/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SETON HALL (2-2) vs. WYOMING (2-0)
Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
Friday, Nov. 23 • 4:00 PM (ET)
Radio: 89.5 WSOU (Play-by-play: Clayton Collier; Color: Leonard Nuciforo)
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
Seton Hall and Wyoming will meet in the first round of the Pepperdine University Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday, Nov. 23, at the Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. It will be the first-ever meeting between Seton Hall and Wyoming and the Cowgirls are the second team so far this season the Pirates are playing for the first time in program history, NJIT was the other.
SETON HALL STATUS
After getting off to a quick 2-0 start at home, Seton Hall dropped its second-straight road game at Michigan on Monday, Nov. 19. Senior Brittany Morris and freshman Tabatha Richardson-Smith tied for the team lead in scoring with nine points apiece. Morris has led the team in scoring in all four games so far this season and is averaging 14.8 points per game.
WYOMING STATUS
With a pair of home wins over Idaho (86-53) and Denver (81-66) the Wyoming Cowgirls are off to a 2-0 start. Four players average double figures in scoring for Wyoming, led by sophomore forward Kayla Woodward's 17.0 ppg. Just behind her is senior forward Chaundra Sewell with 16.0 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per contest. Wyoming has shot very well from the field, hitting at a 54.5 percent clip as a team.
SETON HALL VS. THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
When Seton Hall faces Wyoming on Friday afternoon it will be just the second meeting in school history with a squad from the Mountain West Conference. The Pirates are just 1-0 all-time against the nine current members of the Mountain West, picking up a 71-61 victory over San Diego State University on Dec. 28, 1991.
CALIFORNIA LOVE
Once again the Pirates will be participating in a holiday tournament as this season the team will head to Malibu, Calif., to compete in the Pepperdine University Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 23-24. Seton Hall will face Wyoming in its tournament opener on Nov. 23, at 4 p.m., and then play either host Pepperdine or South Dakota on Nov. 24.
PIRATES SIGN TWO PLAYERS TO NLI
Seton Hall head coach Anne Donovan announced that the Pirates have signed two players to NLI to suit up for the 2013-14 season in center Tara Nahodil (Tri-Valley High School - Hegins, Pa.) and Tianah Alvarado (Lakewood High School - St. Petersburg, Fla.).
Tara Nahodil • 6-4 • C • Tri-Valley High School (Hegins, Pa.)
Nahodil is a versatile All-State center who helped Tri-Valley post a 28-1 record as a junior when they advanced to the Eastern semifinals... She is rated as the No. 20 post player in the Class of 2013 by ESPN Hoop Gurlz... Named a Pennsylvania Sports Writer's All-State Class A First-Team selection... Eclipsed 1,000-career points midway through her junior season.
Tianah Alvarado • 5-10 • G • Lakewood High School (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Alvarado is an explosive scorer who led Lakewood to a Florida Class 4A state championship during her sophomore season... Averaged 30 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists per game as a sophomore... Named the Florida Class 4A Player of the Year in 2011.
MAKING THEM PAY
So far this season Seton Hall has outscored all four of its opponents in opportunities off of turnovers, holding a 67-36 edge over the opposition. The Pirates have a +4.25 turnover margin, which ranks fifth in the BIG EAST.
FINISHING FREE THROWS
Seton Hall is doing a great job at getting to the free throw line, holding a 67-51 advantage over its opposition so far this season. The Pirates are also taking advantage of those trips to the line, shooting 74.6 percent (50-of-67) from the stripe, which ranks 4th in the BIG EAST.
SWARMING DEFENSE
Seton Hall got its hands in a lot of passing lanes at Temple on Nov. 14, forcing a season-high 26 turnovers against the Owls. It was the most turnovers the Pirates had forced in a single game in nearly two years, since the University of Rhode Island turned the ball over 31 times in a 73-69 Seton Hall win on Dec. 29. 2010.
MORRIS LEADING THE CHARGE
Senior guard Brittany Morris has led Seton Hall in scoring in four-straight games to start the season, pouring in a season-high 23 points in the Pirates' 60-54 win over Lafayette on Nov. 11. Morris shot 8-for-10 from the floor in the win, which ties for the third-best single-game shooting performance in school history. She currently ranks 17th in the BIG EAST in scoring with 14.8 points per game.
BROWN MAKES SEASON DEBUT
Versatile sophomore guard Alexis Brown made her season debut at Temple on Nov. 14, after missing the first two games of the season and she wasted no time in filling up the stat sheet. Although she finished the game with just four points, she also had seven rebounds, a team-high four assists and a career-high six steals in 25 minutes.
CLEANING THE GLASS
Senior forward Alexandra Maseko tied her career-high with nine rebounds at Temple on Nov. 14. The nine boards were the most in a single-game for a Seton Hall player so far this season and she also grabbed five offensive rebounds against the Owls.
600 AND COUNTING
With her 23 points in a win over Lafayette on Nov. 11, senior guard Brittany Morris passed 600 points in her career. She has scored 630 points over her three-plus seasons at Seton Hall, and is averaging 7.6 points per game in 83-career games played.
FRESHMAN FOCUS
Freshman forward Tabatha Richardson-Smith has stepped in and made an immediate impact on the floor for Seton Hall through the first four games of the season. She scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting against Lafayette on Nov. 11, and ranks second on the team with 8.3 points per game. She is also a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line.
COMING OFF THE BENCH
Thanks in no small part to the contributions from freshman Tabatha Richardson-Smith, Seton Hall has established an early season advantage over its opposition in bench scoring. The Pirates currently hold a 61-49 edge in bench scoring through the first four games of the year.
REACHING MILESTONES
Seton Hall senior forward Terry Green eclipsed a couple of career milestones in SHU's 69-66 win over NJIT in the season opener in Nov. 9. By knocking down a three-pointer in the second half, she recorded career-triple No. 100, which ranks eighth in school history, and she also finished the game with nine points, which was good enough to move her over 500-points for her career.
BALANCING ACT
Three different players, senior Brittany Morris (15), redshirt sophomore Ka-Deidre Simmons (12) and senior Alexandra Maseko (11) finished with double digit points against NJIT on Nov. 9. It marked the first time Seton Hall had at least three players score in double figures since four accomplished the feat against Syracuse on Jan. 22, 2012.
TAKING THE CHARITY
Seton Hall shot a stellar 24-for-30 (.800) from the free throw line in the season opening 69-66 victory over NJIT, including an 8-for-8 performance from senior Brittany Morris. It was the most free throw makes and attempts for Seton Hall since it shot 28-for-40 in a 72-69 win over Louisiana Tech on Nov. 24, 2011.
MAKING A COMEBACK
Seton Hall redshirt sophomore point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons returns to the lineup for Seton Hall after missing all of the 2011-12 season with an injury. The 5-foot-8-inch point guard out of Newark, N.J., averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 assists per game in 2010-11, when she received BIG EAST All-Freshman accolades after appearing in all 30 games for Seton Hall, making 27 starts in the back court.
LONG-RANGE MARKSMEN
A pair of Seton Hall seniors, Brittany Morris and Terry Green, are continuing their ascent up the program record books in three-point field goals in three-point attempts. Morris is third in school history with 111 career three-pointers while Green ranks eighth with 100-career threes. Green is third all-time with 372 three-point attempts while Morris is just behind her in fourth place with 360 long-range attempts.
THREE'S COMPANY
Led by Terry Green and Brittany Morris the Pirates were very proficient from three-point range a season ago. Of Seton Hall's best eight single-game three-point shooting performances in school history, a whopping five of them came during the 2011-12 season. The Pirates tied their single-game record with 11 makes against Drexel on Dec. 12, 2011, and made 10 threes at New Hampshire and nine against Marquette, Syracuse and DePaul.
LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN
Senior Terry Green etched her name in the school record book with an amazing three-point shooting clinic against DePaul last season. She was a perfect 7-for-7 from three-point range, which set a Seton Hall record in addition to being the best performance from three for a BIG EAST player last season.
EARLY SEASON TESTS
Head coach Anne Donovan has put together a very challenging non-conference schedule that will provide her team with a number of early season tests as it prepares for the rigors of the BIG EAST Conference. Two of Seton Hall's non-conference opponents, South Carolina, and Michigan, received votes in the preseason Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches Poll, and the Pirates will also travel to Wake Forest in addition to hosting future BIG EAST member Memphis, before opening BIG EAST play on January 5.
WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS ARENA
When Seton Hall faces St. John's University on Saturday, Jan. 12, it will be a truly unique experience for the Pirates as the contest will take place at the World's Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, as a part of a St. John's men's and women's hoops double header.
COACHING ADDITION
April Phillips has joined the Seton Hall University coaching staff as the SHU Coordinator of Basketball Operations. Phillips was a four-year letter winner at Xavier University where she helped the Musketeers win three-straight Atlantic 10 championships and was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 honoree. After college she played internationally in Israel, Finland and Belgium.
HOME AND AWAY OPPONENTS
Seton Hall's BIG EAST schedule will feature at least one meeting with all 14 of its conference foes but the Pirates will face both USF (Jan. 22 & Feb. 16) and St. John's University (Jan. 12 & March 2) both at Walsh Gymnasium and on the road.
PIRATE SPORTS NETWORK
The Pirate Sports Network is back for the 2012-13 season and better than ever. With the addition of multiple cameras, the live broadcasts can now be see in high definition with audio play-by-play and color commentary provided by industry professionals Jon Schaeffer and Joey Wahler.
BIG EAST PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Seton Hall University was picked to finish in a tie for 13th place with the University of Pittsburgh in the 2012-13 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll. The University of Connecticut received 12 first place votes to claim the top spot in the poll while the University of Notre Dame came in second, receiving the other three first-place tallies.
BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2013 BIG EAST Women's Basketball Championship will take place from Friday-Tuesday, March 8-12, and will return to the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. For the fifth-straight season all 15 BIG EAST teams will be invited to Hartford for the conference tournament.
