Road Trip Resumes in the Windy City
2/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2014
SETON HALL (14-9, 5-7) at DEPAUL (19-5, 10-2)
Chicago, Ill. (McGrath-Phillips Arena) • Saturday, Feb. 15 • 5:00 PM (ET)
Broadcast: Lakeshore Public Television
Radio: 89.5 FM WSOU (Play-by-play: Rohit Ravi; Color: Clayton Collier)
Seton Hall Game Notes
| | Live Video
The Seton Hall University women's basketball team's road trip continues as the Pirates will head to the Windy City to take on the second-place DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m. (ET). DePaul leads the all-time series with Seton Hall 9-1 and earned a 75-68 win over the Pirates when the teams met in South Orange back on Jan. 14. Seton Hall's only win in the series did come at DePaul, 76-69 in overtime, on Nov. 26, 1999, but it was before the Blue Demons were a member of the BIG EAST.
SETON HALL STATUS
Seton Hall put an end to a four-game losing streak with a come-from-behind 72-71 win at Georgetown on Wednesday afternoon. The Pirates trailed the Hoyas by double digits in both halves, but Bra'Shey Ali scored twice in the final 37 seconds, including what eventually proved to be the game winner with 10 seconds remaining. SHU was down by as many as 13 points in the second half and outscored Georgetown 11-3 over the final 2:43.
DEPAUL STATUS
DePaul had a midweek bye, but the Blue Demons are coming off an 80-66 win over Creighton at home last Sunday, which was their eighth-straight victory. The Blue Demons are 10-2 on their home floor this year with the only losses coming to Kentucky and St. John's. Senior forward Jasmine Penny leads the team at 16.0 ppg but DePaul has a number of offensive weapons. Megan Rogowski has 70 3-pointers and Brittany Hrynko and Chanise Jenkins both average 5.4 assists per game.
ACT II: LAST TIME AGAINST DEPAUL
- DePaul won the first meeting of the year with Seton Hall, 75-68, on Jan. 14, in South Orange.
- The Blue Demons seized control of the game by sinking eight of their first 11 3-point attempts of the second half, after shooting 8-for-28 overall through the first 20 minutes.
- Ka-Deidre Simmons led Seton Hall with 21 points and six assists while Tabatha Richardson-Smith was also in double figures with 17 points.
- Despite DePaul's hot outside shooting Seton Hall did lead 56-50 with eight minutes to play, but the Blue Demons closed the game on a 25-12 run.
- The seven point final margin also represented DePaul's largest lead of the game.
- Jasmine Penny scored 21 points to lead the Blue Demons while Brittany Hrynko scored 16 points and hit four 3-pointers.
LAST SECOND HEROICS
Seton Hall was able to complete a big comeback and win at Georgetown thanks to a couple of late baskets from Bra'Shey Ali. Ali scored twice in the final 37 seconds to help lift the Pirates to a conference road win. She finished the game with nine points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Alexis Brown also played a pivotal role on those final two field goals, assisting on both scores.
RIDING THE HOT HAND
Junior Alexis Brown has been key in orchestrating the Seton Hall offense over the past two games. Brown recorded a career-high nine assists in the win at Georgetown on Wednesday, and also led the Hall with five assists against Villanova last weekend. She is averaging 7.0 assists per game over the last two games and ranks second on the team with 4.2 assists per game this season.
DAILY DOUBLE
Senior Janee Johnson was the latest Pirate to record her first double-double of the season, scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds against Georgetown on Feb. 12. For Johnson it was the first double-double of her career and her second double-digit rebound effort of the season. Seton Hall has seen six different players combine to post 15 double-doubles this year, which is 11 more than the team recorded last season.
ROAD SUCCESS
With its 72-71 victory at Georgetown on Feb. 12, Seton Hall picked up its fourth BIG EAST road win of the season. The Pirates are now 4-2 on the road in conference play, which is the most BIG EAST road wins for the Pirates since the 2002-03 season. Seton Hall had not won back-to-back BIG EAST road games since 2006-07, but it won three-straight conference road games from Jan. 11-Jan. 25, with victories over Villanova, Xavier and Providence. The last time the Pirates won three-straight BIG EAST games away from Walsh Gym also came in 2002-03, a stretch that ended with a win at Providence on Feb. 13, 2003.
OUTSIDE HELP
Freshman wing Teresa Kucera has emerged as an outside shooting threat for the Pirates. Kucera is shooting 42.9 percent (9-for-21) from 3-point range this season, and has hit a three in seven BIG EAST games. She now ranks first in the conference in BIG EAST only contests with a 50.0 percentage (9-for-18) from 3-point range. Kucera scored a career-high nine points on 3-for-4 shooting from the outside in a win at Providence on Jan. 25.
POSTSEASON PROGNOSIS
The BIG EAST regular season has passed its halfway point for all 10 conference teams, so the positioning for the 2014 BIG EAST Championship is starting to take shape. If the BIG EAST Tournament started today Seton Hall would be seeded seventh, and face No. 10 seed Providence in the first round. The Pirates sit a half game back of Butler for the No. 6 seed (although Seton Hall lost the first game of the year to the Bulldogs) and are two games behind Marquette for the No. 5 seed.
RANGE FINDER
Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith was back to burying threes, hitting three triples in the win at Georgetown on Feb. 12. Richardson-Smith, who ranks third in the BIG EAST with 2.5 3-pointers per game, had gone five-straight contests without hitting more than two from downtown. She was averaging just one three per game during that stretch and went two games without sinking a 3-pointer.
