Seton Hall University
DePaul
RV/RV Pirates Break Single-Game Scoring Mark in Rout of DePaul
1/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Box Score 
| Highlights
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - When an opportunity has arisen for the 2014-15 Seton Hall women's basketball team to make a major statement, the Pirates have not failed to take advantage. Sunday proved to be no different, and it came at a place that The Hall has gone unbeaten in this season, historic Walsh Gymnasium.
Seton Hall broke the program's single-game scoring record with a 107-87 victory over DePaul, which was the Pirates' first-ever BIG EAST win over the Blue Demons and the 18th-straight victory inside Walsh Gym. It is just the third time SHU has topped 100 points and the first since 1987.
With the win, the Pirates not only took over first place in the BIG EAST but improved to 6-1 in league play for the first time since 1993-94, when the program reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
The BIG EAST's most potent backcourt of graduate guards Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) and Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) and junior guard Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) played up to their full potential. Coming in combining for nearly 50 points per game, the trio scored 75 on Sunday. Richardson-Smith exploded for a huge day, recording her third-career double-double with 35 points, which was three points shy of her own program record, and 15 rebounds.
Ka-Deidre Simmons did more than just score as well, as the graduate guard tied her career-high of 28 points to go along with 11 assists. After a fairly quiet first half, Daisha Simmons scored 19 in the second stanza and finished with 22 points, seven assists, and four rebounds.
With 14:32 to play, DePaul was within one of the Pirates, trailing 63-62, but that's when Daisha Simmons got her team rolling on another surge in what was a game of runs. After a lay-in by Simmons put the Pirates ahead 67-62, the graduate guard scored an and-one lay-in and followed with the free throw for a three-point play. A lay-in by sophomore center Lubirdia Gordon extended the lead to 10, and Richardson-Smith completed a 12-0 run with a trey to give the Pirates a 75-62 advantage with 12:07 left in regulation.
While DePaul tried to respond by closing within 11, Daisha Simmons scored five unanswered to lift SHU to an 80-64 advantage with 10:32 to play.
From there, the Pirates held control of the game. DePaul reached within 13 as a three by Megan Podkowa cut the lead to 92-79 with 4:10 to play, but that was as close as the Blue Demons would get, and The Hall closed the game on a 15-8 surge.
Seton Hall shot a season-best 54.5 percent from the field and drained 11 3-point field goals, six from Richardson-Smith, which were one shy of the team and individual single-game records respectively.
As DePaul led by seven points early in the first half, the Blue Demons were shooting 62 percent from the field but their shooting percentage declined precipitously from there; DePaul shot just 28.2 percent in the second half and opened the second period shooting just 4-of-19.
The Pirates' defense was able to do enough to keep DePaul under its scoring average. While the Blue Demons went 10-of-24 from beyond the three-point arc in the first half, DePaul was only able to go 4-of-17 in the second.
Seton Hall trailed 36-30 with 9:11 to play in the first when graduate forward Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) drilled a three from the top of the key to cut the Blue Demons' lead to three. A lay-in by Richardson-Smith cut the deficit to one, and after a DePaul bucket by Centrese McGee, Richardson-Smith hit another one of her three treys in the half to tie the contest up at 38 apiece.
Ka-Deidre Simmons hit a three to lift the Pirates to a three-point lead, which was all part of a 16-4 run that powered the Pirates to a 46-40 edge with 5:36 to go in the first, and the halftime margin was 57-54 in favor of The Hall.
The first-place Pirates will be on the road when they return to action on Friday visiting Villanova. The tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET in Philadelphia and the game will be televised to a national audience on Fox Sports 1.
