Hall to Battle St. John's in BIG EAST Quarterfinals
3/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2014
SETON HALL (18-12, 8-10) vs. ST. JOHN'S (20-9, 13-5)
Rosemont, Ill. (Allstate Arena) • Sunday, March 9 • 12:00 PM (CT)
Broadcast: BIGEAST.com (Play-by-play: Dave Bernhard; Color: Trish McGraw)
Radio: 89.5 FM WSOU (Play-by-play: Matt Valentine; Color: Anthony DiPaolo)
Seton Hall Game Notes
| St. John's Game Notes | | Live Video | Video Preview
The Seton Hall University women's basketball team will battle the St. John's Red Storm in the BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday, March 9, at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., at 12 p.m. (CT). This will be the third meeting o the season between the two teams, with the Red Storm winning both regular season match-ups. Seton Hall will be looking to avenge a 51-45 loss suffered to St. John's in the second round of last year's BIG EAST Tournament in Hartford.
SETON HALL STATUS
Seton Hall saw five players score in double figures as it picked up an 88-79 victory over Providence in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday. Ka-Deidre Simmons led the Hall with 24 points and tied the SHU single-season assist record. Junior Alexis Brown approached a triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Seton Hall has now won a BIG EAST Tournament game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002-03, and is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003.
ST. JOHN'S STATUS
St. John's has lost four of its last five games, snapping a four-game losing streak with a 63-42 win at Providence in the regular season finale on Monday. The Red Storm had four player receive BIG EAST regular season honors. Aliyyah Handford was a unanimous First-Team selection, averaging a team-high 15.9 ppg to go along with 5.2 rpg. Amber Thompson was Honorable Mention All-BIG EAST and Jade Walker was on the All-Freshman Team.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT QUICK HITS
- Seton Hall entered the BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 7 seed with a 17-12 overall record and an 8-10 mark in conference play.
- The Pirates are 18-29 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and have not won more than one game at the tournament since 1996.
- Seton Hall has made it out of the first round in back-to-back years for the first time since 2002-03.
- SHU is 5-10 all-time in quarterfinal games and 3-2 overall as the No. 7 seed.
- The Pirates have faced St. John's six times in BIG EAST Championship competition, with the Red Storm winning five of those six meetings.
- St. John's eliminated Seton Hall from last year's BIG EAST Tournament with a 51-45 victory in the second round in Hartford.
- Ka-Deidre Simmons has made four starts in the championship and is averaging 13.5 points, which ranks third for an SHU player in BIG EAST Tournament history.
SETON HALL/ST. JOHN'S SEASON WRAP
- St. John's won both regular season meetings with Seton Hall. The Red Storm won 72-63 on Dec. 28, in Queens, then picked up a 69-48 victory over SHU on Feb. 1.
- Although the Red Storm won by nine in the first game, it was a two possession game with fewer than two minutes to play.
- St. John's is averaging 3.7 3-point field goals per game this season, but the Red Storm are making 6.0 3-pointers per game against Seton Hall.
- Bra'Shey Ali scored a team-high 17 points in the first meeting with St. John's but missed the second match-up due to injury.
- Aliyyah Handford leads SJU with 15.9 ppg, but she has been limited in two meetings against the Pirates, averaging just 8.0 ppg, scoring just four points in the first meeting.
- Seton Hall's 48 points scored against St. John's back on Feb. 1, is a season low.
SIMMONS TIES ASSIST MARK
With three assists against Providence on March 8, Ka-Deidre Simmons moved into a tie with Kathy O'Reilly for the most assists for a Pirate in a single season. Simmons has 158 assists this year, which ties O'Reilly's mark which has stood since the 1987-88 season. She ranks fifth in program history with 352 career assists, and is third in the BIG EAST with 5.3 assists per game this season.
APPROACHING A TRIPLE-DOUBLE
Sophomore Alexis Brown flirted with a triple double in the BIG EAST First Round game against Providence. She scored 14 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists, but missed much of the second half due to foul trouble. Brown has been on a hot streak as of late. She is averaging 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game over the last three games, and has recorded a pair of double-doubles over that stretch.
BIG EAST SCORING RECORD
Seton Hall's 88 points scored against Providence in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament were the most points scored in a tournament game in program history. The Pirates broke the old mark of 87 points, achieved in an overtime victory over Connecticut all the way back in 1985. Seton Hall topped 80 points in all three games against Providence this season, averaging 86.7 ppg against the Friars in 2014.
INDIVIDUAL MARKS MATCHED
A pair of Pirates tied Seton Hall BIG EAST Tournament individual records in the win over Providence on Saturday afternoon. Alexis Brown led Seton Hall with seven assists, which tied the school record for assists in a BIG EAST Tournament game. Tabatha Richardson-Smith came away with five first-half steals, which also tied an SHU conference tournament all-time mark.
SEEING DOUBLE
Scoring 11 points with a game-high 11 rebounds against Providence on March 8, redshirt sophomore Bra'Shey Ali recorded her team-leading eighth double-double of the year. Her eight double-doubles this season are the most for a Seton Hall player since Kandice Green finished the 2009-10 season with 11.
THREE EARN BIG EAST AWARDS
Seton Hall was well represented when the BIG EAST Regular Season awards were announced on Wednesday. Ka-Deidre Simmons was named First-Team All-BIG EAST, Tabatha Richardson-Smith was named Second-Team All-BIG EAST and Most Improved Player, and Sidney Cook landed on the All-Freshman Team. Simmons is the first Pirate to be named First-Team All-BIG EAST since Dana Wynne following the 1996 season. Seton Hall had three individuals honored for the first time since 1995, which was also the last time the Hall had a first and second-team player.
RICHARDSON-SMITH MOST IMPROVED
Being named the BIG EAST Most Improved Player is a well deserved honor for sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith. After scoring just 4.9 ppg as a freshman last season she saw her scoring average jump 12.3 ppg to 17.2, which led Seton Hall and ranked third in the BIG EAST. Richardson-Smith also established herself as a dangerous outside shooting, knocking down 71 3-pointers over the course of the season after hitting just 20 a year ago. She also ranked second in the league with 2.4 steals per game, shooting 36.8 percent from beyond the arc.
PROGRAM MILESTONES
With its win over Xavier on March 4, Seton Hall picked up its eighth BIG EAST victory of the season, which is the most for the Pirates since the 2006-07 season. That year the Pirates finished 19-12 overall and 9-7 in the BIG EAST. Seton Hall has also reached 18 victories and is guaranteed to have a winning record for the first time since 2008-09 when it finished 17-14. The Pirates have finished the year with a .500 or better record just twice since the 2004-05 season. At 8-10 in the BIG EAST the Pirates surpassed their conference win total from the past three years and matched the number of conference wins from the last four seasons combined. It is the first time since 1995 Seton Hall had three players receive BIG EAST regular season honors.
