Pirates Headed to No. 17 West Virginia in WNIT Quarterfinals
11/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Pirates booked their ticket to the quarterfinals with a 66-47 win over Rider University on Friday afternoon in South Orange, while the Mountaineers dispatched Eastern Kentucky, 67-42, on Saturday night.
The winner will face either Mississippi State or Arkansas State in the tournament semifinals next week.
Led by junior Tabatha Richardson-Smith's 19 points, 17 of which came in the first half, Seton Hall rode a 38-14 halftime lead to a comfortable victory in its season opener against Rider. In all, four Pirates scored in double figures in the win.
Graduate Janee Johnson finished just one point shy of her career-high and one rebound short of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds. Graduate Ka-Deidre Simmons scored 14 points with six assists and three steals and redshirt junior Bra'Shey Ali scored 10 points with five board.
Seton Hall forced the Broncs into 31 turnovers in the win, and held Rider without a field goal for more than seven and a half minutes in the first half.
In the win over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Bria Holmes led all scorers with 23 points on 9-for-24 shooting, knocking down three shots from long range.
Similar to Seton Hall, the Mountaineers saw a majority of their points come from the starting five, with that unit accounting for 56 of their 67 points on Saturday. Linda Stepney (13 points) and Alveree Fields (12 points) were both 5-for-7 from the floor.
Seton Hall and West Virginia are familiar foes, having both been members of the BIG EAST Conference. The all-time series is tied, 12-12, but the two programs have not met since Jan. 10, 2012, a 79-63 WVU win.
