Seton Hall University
DePaul
WBB Tops DePaul on Last-Second Shot, 81-80
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHICAGO, ILL. - With RV/#24 Seton Hall trailing by one and time ticking away, graduate guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) came up with the shot of the year for the Pirates, as she took on the DePaul University defense, drew contact and found a way to get a floater in the paint to drop with three seconds remaining as SHU bested DePaul 81-80 in a wild battle first place in the BIG EAST on Friday night in Chicago.
The end of the game was exhilarating, featuring three lead changes in the final 36 seconds. Seton Hall (22-3, 11-2) found itself down by four approaching three minutes to play when Jessica January hit a jumper at 3:24, only to see Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) answer with a trey on the other end to cut the SHU deficit to one.
For a game that featured such offensive fireworks, it came down to defense over the final few possession for The Hall. Richardson-Smith came away with a steal on the next DePaul (19-7, 11-3) possession then went to the line for two, missing the first but making the second to tie the game at 75-75.
Neither team scored for the next 2:30, but then it was a sprint to the finish. Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) poked the ball away from Brittany Hrynko near midcourt and then passed it off to Ka-Deidre Simmons who coasted in for two as the Pirates took a 77-75 lead. Hrynko forced up a tough bank shot on the ensuing Blue Demon possession, and Richardson-Smith came down with the board. She was fouled and made two at the line, extending the lead to 79-75.
It seemed as if Seton Hall had the game in hand, up by four with 22 seconds remaining, but that was not the reality. Hrynko sprinted down for a layup, with only four seconds coming off the clock, and Seton Hall turned the ball over on the inbounds.
DePaul inbounded to Hrynko, who created space in the corner, knocking down her seventh trey of the game to improbably give the Blue Demons with an 80-79 lead.
Ka-Deidre Simmons carried the ball up the court as the clock ticked under 10 seconds to play. Head coach Anthony Bozzella had one timeout remaining but opted not to use it, and Simmons spun into a pair of defenders and got a shot away to win the game. Hrynko's last-second heave hit off the side of the rim.
Ka-Deidre Simmons finished with 16 points and six assists for The Hall. Daisha Simmons scored a team-best 23 points, 17 of which came in the first half when she shot 8-of-9 from the field. Richardson-Smith was the hero in the second half, when she scored 13 of her 22 points, and with 13 rebounds she posted a double-double for a fourth-straight game.
Early in the game it did not look like any Seton Hall comeback was in the cards. DePaul was unconscious from 3-point range, hitting 13-of-25 3-pointers in the first half. The Blue Demons led by as many as 18 points in the opening period, the largest deficit SHU had faced at any point this season, moving in front 40-22 when Jessica January buried a triple from the wing, the 10th trey of the opening period for DePaul.
Seton Hall responded with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes as the Blue Demons misfired on five-straight field goal attempts, a drought that ended with another three, this time from Brooke Schulte. Prolonged field goal droughts would prove to be the Achilles heel for DePaul, especially in the second half.
The Pirates trailed by just eight at the break thanks to a Janee Johnson (Matthews, N.C.) three just before the break. She finished with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three.
Senior Chizoba Ekedigwe (Laurel, Md.) scored six points early in the second half as SHU continued to steadily chip away and finally with 8:26 remaining Ka-Deidre Simmons hit a step-back three in the paint to give Seton Hall its first lead of the game 66-65.
That shot came in the midst of an ice cold shooting stretch for DePaul. The Blue Demons shot just 25.0 percent (9-of-36) from the field in the second half and only 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from 3-point range after being seemingly unable to miss over the first 20 minutes. DePaul made just one basket from the field over a 10-minute period, missing 12-straight field goal attempts at one point, before a Chanise Jenkins triple with four minutes to play.
DePaul stayed in the game thanks to offensive rebounds and second chance scoring. Although rebounds were tied 43-43, the Blue Demons grabbed 18 on the offensive end and outscored the Pirates 15-6 on second chance opportunities. They made 5-of-6 at the line during that field goal drought, pulling down five offensive boards.
Hrynko scored a game-high 29 points on 10-for-21 shooting with seven makes from long-distance. Seton Hall dominated DePaul in the paint once again, holding a 46-10 lead on interior scoring; The Hall outscored the Blue Demons 50-24 in the paint when the teams met last month in South Orange.
Seton Hall now controls its own destiny for the No. 1 seed in the BIG EAST Championship thanks to the season sweep of DePaul. The Pirates won both regular season meetings against the Blue Demons after going 0-10 against them in BIG EAST play prior to this year.
The Pirates return to action at Marquette University on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. (ET).
