Seton Hall University
St. John's
Pirates Edged by Red Storm in BIG EAST Quarterfinals
3/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2014
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ROSEMONT, ILL. - Trailing by as many as 10 points in the second half the Seton Hall University women's basketball team surged back to pull within two, but ultimately fell 66-60 to St. John's in the 2014 BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at Allstate Arena.
The Red Storm (21-9) lead stretched to 58-48 with 6:40 to play thanks in large part to their ability to find buckets on the interior; St. John's finished with 32 points in the paint and saw five of seven field goals during the middle of the second half come from the painted area.
From there SHU (18-13) redshirt junior point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) took over the game, willing the Pirates back into contention. She shot 6-fot-6 from the line over a span of just 42 seconds, stealing a Keylanta Langley pass near midcourt and sprinting through the lane to draw more contact and complete the scoring run.
Following another defensive stop junior Alexis Brown (Jacksonville, Fla.) nailed a pull up jumper from the free-throw line to make it eight straight for Seton Hall in 1:19 of game time.
There were opportunities to tie the game as SHU limited the Red Storm to just one field goal over the final 7:22, and St. John's went scoreless over a stretch of four minutes.
Redshirt freshman Sidney Cook (Parkton, N.C.), who finished with eight points and six rebounds, stole a pass and was fouled, but failed to convert at the line on the other end. The ensuing Red Storm possession resulted in another turnover, but Brown misfired from three and Handford hit a pair of free throws to put St. John's back in front by four.
Seton Hall would pull within two points with fewer than 30 seconds to play as Brown made a difficult layup through traffic. St. John's would hit all four of its free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the win.
Simmons and Brown scored 16 points apiece to lead Seton Hall offensively. Simmons was limited to just one assist, but the helper was her 159th of the season, a new SHU single-season record. Brown continued her strong all-around play, adding eight boards and a team-high four assists to her scoring total.
Handford powered the St. John's offense. After being limited to just 8.0 ppg against SHU in a pair of regular season meetings the First-Team All-BIG EAST talent shot 8-for-13 from the field to score 24 points.
Outside of a few moderate point swings early in the game, Seton Hall and St. John's played neck and neck for nearly the entire first half with the Red Storm taking just a 27-26 lead into the locker room. The opening period featured seven ties and eight lead changes with most of the production coming early on; both teams combined for just three field goals over the final 6:10 of the half.
Brown was hot early, scoring six of her eight first half points in the first 5:38, giving the Pirates a 10-6 lead on a pair of makes from the line. The Red Storm responded with nine unanswered as Briana Brown hit a trey to put St. John's in front 11-10, before Handford closed out the run with two straight drives to the basket.
The five-point St. John's lead was the largest for either team in the opening half and it would not last long as Seton Hall charged back with six-straight points to regain a 16-10 lead on a Brown layup at 9:19. Neither team led by more than two points for the rest of the half and over the final six minutes the teams combined to shoot 3-for-17 from the field with five turnovers.
St. John's started the second half on a 6-0 run, including two quick field goals from Handford to stretch the lead to seven, the largest of the game, and Seton Hall was caught playing catch up for the rest of the game.
At 18-13 overall Seton Hall sports a winning record for the first time since 2008-09 and for only the third time since 2005. The 18 victories are the most for the Pirates since 2006-07, when they went 19-12 and qualified for the WNIT. The eight conference wins were also the most for Seton Hall since 2006-07.
