Pirates Open Thanksgiving Classic with Savannah State
11/27/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2013
SETON HALL (4-1) vs. SAVANNAH STATE (3-3)
South Orange, N.J. (Walsh Gymnasium) • Friday, Nov. 29 • 4:30 PM
Webcast: www.shupirates.com (Play-by-play: Jon Schaeffer; Color: David Gass)
Radio: 89.5 WSOU FM (Play-by-play: Anthony DiPaolo; Color: Adam Romero)
Seton Hall Game Notes
| Savannah State Game Notes | | Live Video
The Seton Hall University women's basketball team hosts the Thanksgiving Classic on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 29-30, in Walsh Gymnasium. The Pirates play Savannah State on Friday at 4:30 p.m., which will be preceded by Fresno State against Liberty at 2 p.m. Seton Hall has never faced any of the three teams visiting South Orange for this weekend's tournament. The Pirates are 4-1 overall and a perfect 4-0 in Walsh Gymnasium so far this season.
SETON HALL STATUS
Seton Hall is coming off a commanding 86-61 victory over Wagner last weekend in Walsh Gym. The Pirates had four players score in double figures, led by senior center Brittany Webb who finished with a career-high 18 points. Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith scored in double figures (15) for the fourth-straight game and redshirt freshman Sidney Cook returned to the lineup for the first time since the season opener, netting 13 points.
SAVANNAH STATE STATUS
Savannah State is 3-3 overall and continues its season-long 10-game road trip with a pair of matchups at the Seton Hall Thanksgiving Classic this weekend. The Tigers went 1-2 at the Baylor University Athletics in Action Classic on Nov. 21-23, in Waco, Texas, and fell at Mississippi State on Tuesday night, 81-63. Ezinne Kalu has started in four of Savannah State's six matchups and leads the team with 13.7 points and 3.8 assists per game. Kenyata Hendrix has made five starts and also averages double figures at 10.8 ppg.
SETON HALL VS. THE MEAC
Seton Hall is 10-3 (.769) all-time against the current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The Pirates have faced six MEAC schools in their history but this will be the first-ever meeting with Savannah State. A 63-43 setback to Howard on Dec. 28, 2011, was the last match-up between Seton Hall and a team from the MEAC.
RICHARDSON-SMITH NAMED TO HONOR ROLL
Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor on Nov. 25 for the first time in her career. She received the honor after nearly recording a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds in an 86-61 SHU win over Wagner. Richardson-Smith also recorded a career-high five assists to go along with a pair of steals in 34 minutes against the Seahawks.
COOK SCORES BIG RETURN
Redshirt freshman Sidney Cook returned to the floor for Seton Hall in its win over Wagner on Nov. 23, after missing three games following an injury in the season opener. Looking like she never missed a minute Cook went on to score 13 points behind 5-of-5 shooting from the floor, even knocking down her first-career 3-pointer. She needed just 14 minutes to tally 13 points to go along with four rebounds and a pair of assists.
BIG OFFENSIVE DAY
Seton Hall enjoyed its most efficient offensive performance of the season in the 86-61 win over Wagner on Nov. 23. The Pirates tied their season-high of 86 points while shooting a 2013-14-best 52.5 percent (31-for-59) from the field. The 31 made field goals and 25-point margin of victory also represented season-highs for the Hall.
PAINT IT BLUE & WHITE
Seton Hall scored a bulk of its points in the season opening win over Longwood in the paint, outscoring the Lancers 36-10 on the interior and controlled the paint in its last outing against Wagner with a 42-20 edge on the inside. The Pirates have outscored their opponents by a 196-118 margin in the paint through the first five games of the year. The Hall is averaging 39.2 points per game on the interior this season.
INSIDE PRESENCE
Senior center Brittany Webb played the best game of her career in scoring a career-high 18 points with six rebounds to lead the Pirates to an 86-61 win over Wagner on Nov. 23. Webb scored in double figures for the first time in her career and was 5-for-10 from the field and a career-high 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. She was efficient too, needing just 18 minutes to tally her team-leading 18 points.
RICHARDSON-SMITH HOT STREAK
- Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith topped the 20-point plateau in three-straight games from Nov. 10-17.
- During her 20-point scoring stretch Richardson-Smith is averaged 27 ppg.
- Entering the season Richardson-Smith's career-high was just 17 points, which she has surpassed three times.
- With the 13-for-20 performance against Marist, Richardson-Smith was the first Seton Hall player to score 30 points in a game since Jasmine Crew finished with 33 points at Memphis on Dec. 30, 2011.
- She finished just six points shy of the Seton Hall single-game scoring record of 36 and one field goal shy of the single-game record of 14.
STARTING LINEUP VARIANCE
Seton Hall head coach Anthony Bozzella has already been forced to use four different starting lineups over the first five games of the season. Ka-Deidre Simmons, Tabatha Richardson-Smith and Chizoba Ekedigwe have started all five games for the Pirates.
SIMMONS CLIMBING CAREER RANKS
With her seven assists against Wagner redshirt junior Ka-Deidre Simmons moved up to No. 19 on Seton Hall's career assist list. She now has 218-career assists and needs just three more to ascend to No. 18. Simmons is averaging 3.3 assists per game in her career and leads Seton Hall and ranks second in the BIG EAST at 4.8 apg this season.
