Pirates Battle No. 17 West Virginia in Preseason WNIT Quarterfinals
11/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SETON HALL (1-0) at #17/17 WEST VIRGINIA (1-0)
Morgantown, W. Va. (WVU Coliseum) • Monday, Nov. 17 • 7:00 PM
Broadcast: WVUsports.com
Radio: 89.5 FM WSOU (Play-by-play: Kevin Huebler; Color: Rohit Ravi)
Seton Hall Game Notes 
| West Virginia Game Notes | Live Video | Live Stats
The Seton Hall University women's basketball team will face a difficult early season test as the Pirates hit the road to face No. 17 West Virginia in the Preseason WNIT quarterfinals on Monday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m.
The Pirates and Mountaineers are familiar foes, with West Virginia residing in the BIG EAST conference through 2012. The all-time series between the two schools is tied 12-12, while West Virginia won the last three meetings, the most recent of which was back on Jan. 10, 2012.
Seton Hall and West Virginia saw similar results in their season openers, as the Pirates dispatched Rider 66-47 while the Mountaineers handled Eastern Kentucky, 67-42.
The Pirates rode a pair of big first-half runs to the win over the Broncs. Seton Hall held Rider without a field goal for a stretch of more than seven minutes as the Pirates built a double-digit lead. Then, junior Tabatha Richardson-Smith took over the game, scoring 10-straight points behind 3-pointers on three-straight possessions.
Bria Holmes' scored a game-high 23 points for West Virginia on Saturday night, knocking down three shots from long-distance. West Virginia trailed late in the first half before closing out the opening period with 12 unanswered points to create a more comfortable halftime margin.
The key for the Pirates will likely be two-fold on Monday night, the matchup between Holmes, the Big XII Preseason Player of the year, and Ka-Deidre Simmons, who had 14 points with six assists against Rider, and the play of the Pirates' front court.
Holmes averaged nearly 19 ppg last season when she was selected as the Big XII Player of the Year. She was the center piece of the West Virginia offense against Eastern Kentucky, attempting 23 shots in 37 minutes.
Simmons is unquestionably one of the most dynamic players in the BIG EAST as a guard who racks up assists in addition to scoring the basketball. She did have six turnovers to go along with a game-high six dimes in Friday's win; her ability to match Holmes' output should open up the offense for The Hall.
West Virginia also boasts a talented group of front court players, outrebounding Eastern Kentucky 44-38, with Crystal Leary coming off the bench to grab 11 boards. Conversely, Seton Hall was minus nine on the glass against Rider, and only outscored the undersized Broncs 26-22 in the paint, a trend that will need to be reversed against the defending Big XII champs.
SETON HALL STATUS
Seton Hall was led by junior Tabatha Richardson-Smith in its win over Rider on Friday, as she shot 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range to finish with a game-high 19 points. The starting lineup did most of the damage for Seton Hall, accounting for 61 of The Hall's 66 points in the win. Janee Johnson, Bra'Shey Ali and Ka-Deidre Simmons also scored in double figures. Although the Pirates forced Rider into committing 31 turnovers, the most for an SHU opponent since 2010, Seton Hall was outrebounded 44-35 and only held a 26-22 edge in point in the paint.
WEST VIRGINIA STATUS
West Virginia won the Big XII title last season and was picked to finish third in the Preseason Coaches' Poll this year, with junior guard Bria Holmes being named the conference's Preseason Player of the Year. Holmes lived up to her preseason billing in the victory over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, scoring a game-high 23 points and playing 37 minutes. Like Seton Hall, West Virginia relied on its starting five to provide a bulk of the scoring, with its bench only adding 11 points. The Mountaineers controlled the paint in their season-opening win, holding a 44-38 edge in rebounding and a 26-16 lead on interior scoring.
PIRATES SELECTED FOR PRESEASON WNIT
A year removed from its deepest run in the WNIT in program history, Seton Hall has been selected as one of 16 teams to compete in the Preseason WNIT. It is just the second time the Pirates are competing in the WNIT and the first since the inaugural tournament in 1994. That season the Pirates beat Rutgers, 66-64, in the season opener before falling at Washington, 84-72, in the second round.
SETON HALL VS. THE BIG XII
Seton Hall has not played many games against Big XII foes in its history, posting a 13-18 record against current members of the conference, but 24 of those matchups came against West Virginia, a former member of the BIG EAST. The Pirates' other win against a Big XII foe came in the NCAA Tournament, a 71-66 victory over the Longhorns in the Second Round on March 19, 1994, in South Orange. The last time Seton Hall played a Big XII team was West Virginia, when they were still a member of the BIG EAST, a game the Mountaineers won on Jan. 10, 2012, 79-63. Seton Hall's last game against a member of the Big XII when they were in the conference came in the 2006-07 season opener, a 64-50 loss to Kansas in Kansas City, Mo.
BACK TO BUSINESS
After breaking out as one of the top offensive threats in the BIG EAST last season, junior wing Tabatha Richardson-Smith picked up right where she left off in the season opener against Rider. Richardson-Smith scored a team-high 19 points, including a stretch of 10 points in less than a minute in the first half. She nailed four of her five 3-point field goal attempts to move into a tie for sixth place in program history with 109 in her career.
TURNOVER BARRAGE
In its season opening win against Rider on Nov. 14, Seton Hall forced the Broncs into committing 31 turnovers. It was the most turnovers for an SHU opponent in nearly four years, since Rhode Island committed 31 turnovers in a Seton Hall victory back on Dec. 29, 2010.
