Richarson-Smith Named USBWA National Player of the Week
12/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ST. LOUIS, MO. - Seton Hall University women's basketball junior guard Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) was selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Writers Association (USBWA) as the Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week, it was announced by the association earlier this week.
The USBWA identifies a national player of the week every Tuesday throughout the regular season, with the honoree selected from a list of conference players of the week across the country. Richardson-Smith, who was tabbed as the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday, was honored after tying the Seton Hall single-game record with 38 points in an 82-72 victory over Illinois on Dec. 9.
Richardson-Smith tied her own single-game scoring record, which she originally set last season in an overtime victory over Marquette, shooting 11-for-18 from the field and 6-for-12 from 3-point range against Illinois. Additionally, she was 10-for-12 at the line and finished with seven steals and five rebounds. Her steals, made free throws and free-throw attempts all represented a career-high.
Prior to her record breaking performance last season, the SHU single-game record of 36 points, set by Geraldine Saintilus, had stood for more than 25 years, since she accomplished the feat against St. John's in January 1989. Now, Richardson-Smith has scored 38 points twice in her career, and has topped 30 points four times.
In the win over Illinois, Richardson-Smith scored 23 points in the first half, tying the highest single-half mark of the year for an SHU player. She scored 10 points in a 14-2 burst to end the period, helping the Pirates take an eight-point lead through 20 minutes of action.
Richardson-Smith is steadily closing in on 1,000-career points, surpassing 900 on Thursday night when she scored a team-high 19 points in a win over Fairfield. She is averaging 12.2 ppg during her career and has 918 points, leaving her 82 points shy of becoming the 21st player in program history to score 1,000 points.
She currently ranks first in the BIG EAST conference in 3-point field goals and steals per game, with 3.1 in each category. With 137-career 3-pointers, she already ranks fourth in school history in long-range shooting.
Richardson-Smith has scored in double figures in nine of 11 games this season and her 18.4 ppg currently lead Seton Hall and rank third in the BIG EAST Conference.
Adding to her weekly awards haul, Richardson-Smith was also named the Corvias ECAC Women's Basketball Division I Metro/Upstate Co-Player of the Week.
