Women's Basketball 2013-14 Season Preview
11/6/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 6, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - A new era for the Seton Hall University women's basketball team will officially tip off on Friday, Nov. 8, when the Pirates host Longwood University in their 2013-14 season opener at Walsh Gymnasium.
It has been more than seven months since Anthony Bozzellawas officially introduced as the fourth head women's basketball coach in program history and after a long wait the anticipation of seeing the Pirates compete under a new system will finally come to an end.
Bozzella, a 1989 graduate of Seton Hall, brings more than 20 years of head coaching experience with him to South Orange, the last 11 of which came at Iona College, where he inherited a program that had never experienced a winning season and transformed it into a perennial contender for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) title, guiding the Gaels to four postseason berths, including a WNIT bid last season.
Success has followed Bozzella at each of his coaching stops over the past two decades. When he started at Southampton College in 1992, he took a team that had never experienced a winning season and by his third year posted a winning record and guided the program to six-straight postseason appearances. At LIU Brooklyn Bozzella transformed the culture once again, needing just one year to orchestrate the first winning season in program history, and by year two he won the Northeast Conference title, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Seton Hall is coming off one of the most successful seasons in recent memory, posting an 11-20 overall record last year and a 5-11 mark in BIG EAST play, tying for 11th place in the conference standings, the most victories for the Pirates since 2009 and the highest BIG EAST win total since 2007.
The 2013-14 season marks a new era in the BIG EAST, as Seton Hall along with DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's and Villanova joined with new member Butler, Creighton and Xavier to create a new conference dedicated to building one of the strongest basketball brands in the nation. It is Bozzella's mission to see that the Pirates work toward being a premier program in the new league.
Led by Preseason All-BIG EAST selection Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.), Seton Hall brings back three starters and 11 total letterwinners from last year's squad, a group that is joined by a number of new faces poised to make immediate contributions.
Bozzella's aim is to implement a fast-paced style of play and a supremely well-conditioned team that can get up and down the court with ease, adding emphasis specifically to improving on a 53.2 ppg scoring average from last season. The Pirates will be able to work through a great deal of their adjustments to style of play on their home floor, as Seton Hall plays nine of its 11 non-conference games in Walsh Gymnasium before beginning its 18-game double round robin conference slate.
GUARDS
Simmons was stellar for the Hall last season after being forced to sit out what should have been her sophomore campaign in 2011-12 due to injury. She ranked second on the team in scoring at 11.5 ppg and scored in double figures 22 times, including in six of the final seven games of the season. Simmons has already started in 58 games in her career and scored north of 500 points in just two seasons, some of the many reasons she was tabbed as a Preseason All-Conference selection for the first time in her career.
Versatile guard Alexis Brown (Jacksonville, Fla.)took a major step forward during her sophomore campaign, appearing in 27 games while averaging 5.5 points per game and pulling down a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game. Her physicality as a guard or combo poses problems for opposing defenses and she scored in double figures six times last year, including a career-high 14 point performance at Louisville in February.
The Pirates also welcome back sophomore Jasmine McCall (Manalapan, N.J.)who will provide added depth at point guard. She saw action in 18 games as a freshman averaging 1.3 ppg while appearing in seven BIG EAST contests.
Freshman Tara Inman (Holmdel, N.J.)is a sharp shooting point guard out of Holmdel High School, where she averaged 19.6 points per game and graduated as the school's all-time boys or girls scoring leader with 1,675 points. Inman will provide the Pirates with another ball handler and also act as an additional scoring threat from the outside.
Junior Jordan Mosley (Orlando, Fla.)transferred to Seton Hall from La Salle University but will have to sit out the 2013-14 season due to NCAA transfer rules. She saw extensive playing time in two full seasons with the Explorers, appearing in all 31 games as a freshman and starting 24 times during her sophomore season when she averaged 6.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
FORWARDS
Seton Hall has a great deal of depth and versatility at the forward position where a strong crop of returning players are joined by several new faces to create a dynamic frontcourt.
Senior Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.)played in 30 games last season and made nine starts, averaging 3.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. She turned in her best performance of the season at Wake Forest when she scored a season-high 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting and also had a season-high nine rebounds against South Carolina. In the Pirates' exhibition win over Philadelphia she scored 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting, also grabbing six boards.
Breanna Jones (Springfield, Va.)graduated last spring but is back for a final season as a graduate student. Jones has played two seasons at Seton Hall and really came on strong at the end of 2013, starting the final five games of the year and averaging 6.5 rebounds over the last four contests, which included an eight points, nine rebound performances in a win over Cincinnati in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament.
Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas)displayed an ability to spread the floor during her first season with SHU, playing in all 31 games while averaging 4.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Richardson-Smith reached double figures six times and nailed 20 3-pointers, knocking down three treys while scoring 19 points in a season-best effort against Siena.
Redshirt freshman Sidney Cook (Parkton, N.C.)will finally make her long awaited college debut on Friday night after missing all of last season with an injury. Ranked as the No. 17 forward and No. 84 player overall by ESPN Hoop Gurlz following her senior season in 2012, Cook is an athletic post that should provide the Pirates with a consistent offensive presence in the paint. Seeing her first game action of any kind in more than a year in the exhibition against Philadelphia, Cook nearly finished with a double-double scoring 11 points with eight rebounds.
Redshirt-sophomore Bra'Shey Ali (Plainfield, N.J.)is yet another member of the SHU front court that missed last season, only Ali sat out due to transfer restrictions after playing 11 games at Kentucky in 2011-12. A polished and athletic post player Ali is expected to provide a big rebounding boost and serve as one of the Pirates' strongest defenders. She played her high school ball at Nazareth High School and New York and entered college as a top-20 frontcourt recruit.
A pair of freshmen combo players in Kathleen Egan (Aberdeen, N.J.) and Teresa Kucera (Schwäbisch Hall, Germany)will also provide depth for the Hall. Egan is a talented all-around player who averaged 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.6 steals per game during her junior year at St. John Vianney High School leading to her being named Second-Team All-Shore and Second-Team All-Monmouth County.
Kucera is a scoring threat from anywhere on the court and gained valuable high level experience competing for the German U16 national team and for the Third Women's German League in 2011-12 where she averaged 18.1 ppg. She was nominated to compete for the German National Women's U20 team in 2012-13.
Senior Elaine Swaby (Paterson, N.J.)has been battling injuries for the past two seasons. She remains an integral part of all team activities and will serve as a valuable source of leadership on the team.
CENTERS
Senior Brittany Webb (New York, N.Y.)started 10 games last season and saw action in all 31 contests, averaging 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game; she also tied for the team lead with 20 blocked shots. Webb scored seven points and pulled down six rebounds against St. John's last season in a game played at Madison Square Garden and had a significant impact in the Pirates' win over Rutgers, blocking a season-high four shot attempts in 29 minutes.
Junior Chizoba Ekedigwe (Laurel, Md.)made a significant step forward during her sophomore season and will look to continue that progress this year. She saw action in 22 games with six starts in 2012-13, seeing her minutes per game double while averaging 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.
SCHEDULE
Seton Hall plays nine of its 11 nonconference games at home, but the Pirates do take a pair of road trips to challenging locales in a visit to preseason No. 22/21 South Carolina on Nov. 17, and the University of Illinois on Dec. 9.
This season's BIG EAST schedule is a double round robin format meaning all nine conference foes will make a trip to Walsh Gymnasium. Seton Hall opens its conference schedule at St. John's on Dec. 28, and hosts Butler in its home BIG EAST opener on Jan. 4. The balanced schedule never sends the Pirates on the road for more than back-to-back games and Seton Hall hosts a three-game home stand from Jan. 28-Feb. 9, with a bye between games with St. John's on Feb. 1, and Villanova on Feb. 9.
Seton Hall wraps up the regular season at home on March 4 against Xavier. This year the BIG EAST Tournament is headed to the Windy City for the first time, as all 10 teams will descend on Chicago, Ill., for the four-day conference championship from Saturday-Tuesday, March 8-11.
A pair of first round games will be played at DePaul University's McGrath-Phillips Arena while the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will be held at Allstate Arena. The semifinals and final will be televised live on FOX Sports 1.
