Simmons Named MBWA Player of the Week Once Again
1/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK - It is another repeat performance for Seton Hall University point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) who was named a back-to-back winner of the Met Basketball Writers Association Division I Women's Player of the Week award Tuesday it was announced by the association. The latest accolade comes a day after she was tabbed as the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the second time in as many weeks.
Simmons helped lead the Pirates to a pair of BIG EAST wins last week, as Seton Hall improved to 17-2 overall and 6-1 in the BIG EAST to ascend to first place by itself in the conference standings. In two games, she averaged 22.5 points, 9.5 assists and 6.0 rebounds, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.2.
Seton Hall beat Marquette 88-58 on Friday night, its largest margin of victory over a BIG EAST foe in more than 20 years, since a 30-point win over Providence in 1994. Simmons saw just 30 minutes of court time, her second-lowest total of the season, but still filled out the stat sheet as she was working on a triple-double with 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Two days later, Seton Hall broke its single-game scoring record with a 107-87 victory over DePaul University, marking just the third time the Pirates topped 100 points in program history and the first since scoring 102 points against St. Francis (N.Y.) in 1987. It was the first time Seton Hall defeated DePaul during BIG EAST play and the Pirates snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Blue Demons.
Simmons tied her career-high of 28 points in the win over DePaul, and also dished out 11 assists with five rebounds and a pair of steals. The Pirates' all-time leader in free throws was 15-of-18 at the line, and shot 6-of-11 from the field with a 3-pointer.
At 17-2, Seton Hall is off to one of the best starts in program history, and the 6-1 start to BIG EAST play is second to just the 1993-94 squad, which won 10 of its first 11 conference games.
Seton Hall returns to action this Friday night, when it travels down I-95 to face Villanova University. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1, and tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
