Seton Hall University
Providence
RV/RV Pirates Secure 68-67 Comeback Win at Providence
1/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Box Score 
| Highlights
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Graduate point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) sunk a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining to lift the Seton Hall University women's basketball team to a huge 68-67 comeback win at Providence College on Sunday afternoon.
Seton Hall, which improved to 15-2 overall and 4-1 in the BIG EAST, is off to its best start to conference play since the 2000-01 season. The Pirates needed to erase a 17 point second half deficit to earn the win, and come back from seven down with just under three minutes to play.
The Pirates had not trailed by more than 12 points at any point this season, and came back from a halftime deficit for the first time this year; SHU trailed by eight at the half on Sunday and had lost both games this season when it was down through 20 minutes of action.
Seton Hall needed to start strong in the second half after trailing 35-27, but instead Providence outscored The Hall 11-2 through the first four minutes of the period to jump out to a 46-29 lead when Chanise Baldwin hit a layup at 16:19.
It took only six minutes for the Pirates to shave 10 points off the lead and pull within seven, as the Providence advantage was cut to 53-46 when Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) connected from deep with 10:30 to play.
The triple was just the second of the game for the Pirates, and the first in 25 minutes of game time; Seton Hall's only other 3-pointer was from Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) early in the first half. SHU shot just 2-for-20 from 3-point range, with a season low in made 3-pointers and 3-point shooting percentage.
Richardson-Smith, who finished with 16 points, including a big bucket down the stretch, on Sunday became just the 21st player in program history to score 1,000-career points. Entering the game she needed 11 to join the 1,000-point club and now sits 20th in program history with 1,005 points.
Although Seton Hall appeared to be on a roll when Richardson-Smith made that three, the Pirates' comeback stalled and SHU was not any closer until the five-minute mark and still trailed by seven with fewer than three minutes to play.
Starting with a Ka-Deidre Simmons make at 2:38, Seton Hall outscored the home team Friars 9-2 to end the game. Daisha Simmons sliced to the hoop 33 seconds later to make it a one possession game for the first time since 5:43 remained in the first half, and Richardson-Smith found a way to get a floater in the paint to roll around the rim and drop to cut the Providence lead to just one with 80 seconds remaining.
The Pirates actually came up with three stops down the stretch to secure victory. Following the first, SHU turned the ball over on an inbounds pass, then Alison Lewis missed a baseline jumper with 19 seconds remaining to give the Pirates a final look.
Ka-Deidre Simmons came away with the rebound and sprinted right down the court, drawing contact going to the basket with 12 ticks left on the clock. She made both free throws, then Seton Hall forced Providence to throw the ball away on its last offensive possession and the Friars never got a shot off at the end of the game.
Providence was shooting 63.6 percent from the field in the second half through the first 12 minutes of the period, but hit just one field goal over the final 8:06. The Friars committed 15 second half turnovers and shot just 1-of-8 down the stretch.
Daisha Simmons scored 13 points with four steals and three assists, shooting 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. Junior Tiffany Jones (New York, N.Y.) was working on a double-double with 12 points and eight boards off the bench.
Seton Hall trailed by as many as nine points in the first half after shooting just 28.6 percent from the field and connecting on just one of 11 3-point attempts. Ka-Deidre Simmons was the bright spot offensively for The Hall, scoring 12 points with four assists while playing all 20 minutes.
After Providence extended its lead to 29-20 with 4:30 to play, Simmons scored five in a row to get the Pirates back in the game; and she closed the half scoring the final eight points of the period for SHU. A three-point play at 4:22 ended a six-minute Seton Hall field goal drought, and she knocked down a 10-foot baseline jumper on the next possession to make it 29-25.
Providence opened the game shooting 8-of-15 (53.3) percent but hit just four of its next 16 attempts, failing to extend its lead into double figure despite Seton Hall's cold shooting.
Seton Hall is back in action with a pair of BIG EAST home games next weekend. The Pirates will host the Marquette Golden Eagles on Friday night at 7 p.m. The game will be carried by the BIG EAST Digital Network and be available on the Fox Sports Go app.
