Simmons Repeats as BIG EAST Player of the Week
1/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK - Seton Hall University point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) has made it back-to-back weeks as the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Player of the Week Monday it was announced by the league office.
Simmons was outstanding in a pair of Seton Hall wins last week, averaging 22.5 points, 9.5 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game as the Pirates defeated Marquette and DePaul to improve to 6-1 in BIG EAST play and take over sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
It is the third time this season and the fourth in her career Simmons has been named the league's Player of the Week. She ties junior Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) for the most BIG EAST POW accolades for a career, and her three selections this season are a new program record.
Seton Hall entered the weekend locked in a four-way tie for first in the BIG EAST standings, but emerged from a challenging slate alone at the top. The Pirates battered Marquette, 88-58, on Friday night, in what was the largest margin of victory over a BIG EAST foe for The Hall since 1994.
Simmons filled out the stat sheet and was working on recording a triple-double while playing just 30 minutes against the Golden Eagles, scoring 17 points with eight assists and seven rebounds while shooting 7-of-12 from the field.
Two days later, Seton Hall set a new program record for scoring with its 107-87 victory over DePaul, and again Simmons was a major contributor.
She tied her career high of 28 points, and dished out 11 assists, stopping one shy of her personal record, for her second double-double of the season and the fifth of her career. Simmons, who is Seton Hall's all-time leader in made free throws, shot 15-of-18 from the line and was 6-for-11 from the field, playing 39 minutes at the point.
The victory over DePaul, who were the preseason pick to win the league, was Seton Hall's first against the Blue Demons since they joined the league prior to the 2005-06 season and snapped a 10-game losing streak in the series. The 107 points scored broke the old program record of 102, set against St. Francis (N.Y.) on Dec. 1, 1987.
Overall in the two games, Simmons shot 56.5 percent from the field and boasted a 3.2 assist/turnover ratio.
She ranks fifth in the BIG EAST in scoring, averaging 17.4 ppg, and leads the league with 5.7 assists per game. Simmons ranks sixth all-time at Seton Hall with 1,469 points and second with 477 assists. She is now exactly 200 points shy of taking over second place in program history in scoring and sits 57 assists shy of the Seton Hall career-record of 533, held by Kathy O'Reilly (1985-89).
Seton Hall, which earlier this year set a program record for best start to a season at 13-1, is 6-1 in conference play for the first time since the 1993-94 season, when the Pirates won 10 of 11 BIG EAST games to begin the year, en route to a 16-2 overall record and an eventual berth in the NCAA Sweet 16.
The Pirates will be on the road for a pair of games this weekend, starting with a showdown at Villanova University on Friday, Jan. 23, at the Pavilion. The game will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1, and will tip off at 7 p.m.
BIG EAST Player of the Week
Ka-Deidre Simmons - Seton Hall, G
BIG EAST Freshman of the Week
Dorothy Adomako - Georgetown, G
BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
Alexis Akin-Otiko - Creighton, F
Aliyyah Handford - St. John's, G
Emily Leer - Villanova, F/C
Megan Podkowa - DePaul, G
Ijeoma Uchendu - Butler, F
