RV/#24 WBB Concludes Homestand Against Creighton
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RV/#24 SETON HALL (21-2, 10-1) vs. CREIGHTON (13-10, 6-6)
South Orange, N.J. (Walsh Gymnasium) • Sunday, Feb. 8 • 2:00 PM
Broadcast: Pirate Sports Network (Play-by-play: Jon Schaeffer; Color: David Gass)
Radio: WSOU 89.5 FM (Play-by-play: Alex Zeller; Color: James Pinnock)
Seton Hall Game Notes 
| Creighton Game Notes | Live Video |
The RV/#24 Seton Hall University women's basketball team will be looking to make a bit of history on Sunday afternoon when it welcomes the Creighton Bluejays to Walsh Gym at 2 p.m., as the Pirates will be looking to win their program-record 21st-consecutive home game.
At 21-2 overall and 10-1 in the BIG EAST, Seton Hall has won eight-straight overall and currently sits alone in first place in the conference standings, with a half-game lead over DePaul. The Pirates are 21-2 for the first time in program history and the 20-straight home wins have tied the program record set during a span that lasted from 1993-95.
Additionally, Seton Hall has matched it best conference record through the first 11 games of the season, and The Hall has never been 11-1 against league teams. However, all of that is contingent on Seton Hall coming away with a win against a Creighton team that is inarguably one of the hottest in the BIG EAST right now and features one of the most dynamic scorers in the league in Preseason Player of the Year Marissa Janning.
The Bluejays have won four in a row and are coming off a dominant 75-50 victory at St. John's on Friday night, a game that was never in question as Creighton shot lights out from 3-point range, hitting 12-of-19 attempts (63.2 percent).
Seton Hall won the first meeting of the year in Omaha, 79-74, but that was way back on Dec. 3, and a lot has changed since then, especially for Creighton which is displaying a balanced scoring attack that is of course led by Janning, but features six players shooting north of 30.0 percent from 3-point range, where the Bluejays connect at a rate of 35.6 percent as a team.
Two performances stood out for The Hall following that first matchup. Daisha Simmons was outstanding, scoring a game-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, and it was then that Janee Johnson established herself as one of the Pirates' critical outside scoring threats.
Johnson hit four 3-pointers and matched her then career-high of 16 points in the win, and since then her outside shooting has developed even more. On Friday night, she bested that output with five triples, setting a new career-high of 17 points in the process. Over the past nine games, she is averaging 2.2 3-pointers per game.
One more player to watch, with a pair of individual milestones in her sights, will be Ka-Deidre Simmons. She had 17 points and seven assists against Providence and needs just 18 points to pass Hall of Famer Jodi Brooks for fifth-place all-time (1,558) and she is five assists shy of becoming the second player in program history to reach 500.
SETON HALL STATUS
- Seton Hall kept rolling with a dominating 67-40 victory over Providence on Friday night. Ka-Deidre Simmons and Janee Johnson both recorded 17 points to lead The Hall, which limited Providence to 25.0 percent shooting.
- With the win on Friday, SHU pushed its current winning streak to eight and the Pirates won their program-record tying 20th-straight home game. SHU is 21-2 for the first time in program history and the 10-1 BIG EAST record ties the best start to a conference season.
- The Pirates maintained their hot shooting from 3-point range, knocking down nine triples against Providence. Seton Hall has made eight or more threes of five of their last six games.
CREIGHTON STATUS
- Heading into the weekend, Creighton was already without question one of the hottest teams in the league, and that sentiment was bolstered by their commanding 75-50 win at St. John's on Friday night. The Bluejays have won four-straight to get back to 6-6 in the BIG EAST.
- Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year and reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week Marissa Janning has been hot as of late, and she scored 11 points in the win over the Red Storm.
- Creighton is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the conference, and was 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from long-range on Friday.
LAST TIME VS. CREIGHTON
- Seton Hall was able to get on the board in the series with Creighton, earning its first-ever win over the Bluejays, 79-74, back on Dec. 3, 2014.
- The Pirates led by as many as 15 points in the second half, and a late Creighton rally, coupled with The Hall struggling to 2-of-9 from the line in the final two minutes, made for a tight finish.
- Seton Hall shot 10-for-21 from 3-point range in the win, with Janee Johnson breaking out from beyond the arc to the tune of four 3-pointers and 16 points.
- Four players scored in double figures in the win, led by Daisha Simmons, who had 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
SIMMONS NAMED TO LIEBERMAN WATCH LIST
- Graduate point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons has been named to the Watch List for the prestigious Nancy Lieberman Award, which honors the nation's top point guard.
- Simmons is one of just 31 players in NCAA Division I to land on the Watch List and is the only player from the BIG EAST conference to earn the distinction.
- She currently ranks second at Seton Hall and fifth in the BIG EAST, averaging 17.5 ppg and leads the league and is 24th nationally with 5.5 assists per game.
- The Watch List will be narrowed to 15 players and then five finalists, with the winner announced at the WBCA Awards Banquet at the Final Four in Tampa, Fla.
WALSH IS A TOUGH PLACE TO PLAY
- When Seton Hall hosts Creighton on Sunday afternoon, the Pirates will be looking for their 21st-straight home victory, which would break the program record set from 1993-95.
- The Pirates are 15-0 at home this year, and dating back to last year have won 20 straight, winning by an average of 14.6 ppg on their home floor over that stretch.
- This season, SHU is winning its home games by an average margin of 18.0 ppg.
- It is the second 10-plus game home winning streak for The Hall since Tony Bozzella took over the program. Under Bozzella, the Pirates are 30-5 at home.
NATION'S LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAKS
1. Connecticut - 29
2. South Carolina - 28
3. Florida Gulf Coast - 22
4. SETON HALL - 20
James Madison - 20
MILESTONE SUMMARY
- Seton Hall is 21-2 for the first time in program history.
- The 10-1 start to BIG EAST play ties the best-ever record to this point in the season with the 1993-94 squad.
- The Pirates have won 20 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1993-94 and 1994-95.
- Seton Hall has reached 10 BIG EAST victories for the first time since 1994-95 when it finished 12-6 in league play.
- The Pirates' current 20-game home winning streak ties the all-time mark set during a span from 1993-95.
- The 21 wins tie the most head coach Anthony Bozzella has recorded in one season and Bozzella has won 20 or more games in three-straight seasons for the first time in his career.
JOHNSON FROM DOWNTOWN
- Graduate Janee Johnson has emerged as one of Seton Hall's most effective outside shooting threats.
- Entering the season, Johnson had hit just a pair of 3-pointers in her career, both of which came last season. This year? She is second on the team with 31 3-pointers.
- Her shooting has been particularly sharp as of late, averaging 2.2 3-pointers per game over the past nine games, hitting a career-high five triples against Providence on Feb. 6, when she finished with a career-high 17 points.
- She currently ranks sixth in the BIG EAST with a 36.5 (31-of-85) shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
