Seton Hall University
Butler
WBB WINS BIG EAST REGULAR SEASON TITLE
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - The RV/#25 Seton Hall University women's basketball team orchestrated an incredible late game run to erase a nine-point deficit with 60 seconds to play and come away with an 85-76 win at Butler to clinch at least a share of the BIG EAST Regular Season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
The Pirates improved to 26-4 overall and 15-3 in the BIG EAST, winning their first-ever BIG EAST regular season crown and capturing the top seed in the conference tournament for the first time.
Seton Hall, which has struggled in BIG EAST Sunday afternoon games all season long, appeared to be headed for a disappointing setback on the road when Sydney Buck scored on a put back with 1:07 to play, lifting Butler to a 76-67 lead. But what transpired over the final 67 ticks of the clock was nothing short of amazing. Seton Hall outscored the Bulldogs 18-0 over the final minute of the game, which included a spurt of 11 points over just 29 seconds.
The comeback actually only took 32 seconds of game time. After Tiffany Jones (New York, N.Y.) scored a quick layup in the paint with a minute on the clock, Seton Hall called a timeout and set up its press. Lexus Murry turned it over at midcourt, and Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) drained a 3-pointer at the other end, cutting the deficit to 76-72.
Ijeoma Uchendu was quickly fouled on the ensuing inbounds play, but missed two at the line. Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) came away with the rebound and Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) completed a three-point play at the other end, and suddenly it was a one point game. A deflected pass resulted in an inbounds from just next to the Seton Hall bench, and Ka-Deidre Simmons came sprinting from midcourt to intercept Blaire Langlois' inbounds.
Simmons missed the layup but Richardson-Smith came away with the board and banked in a shot as she was fouled. The Pirates' second 3-point play in eight seconds resulted in a 78-76 lead.
Butler went for the tie, but Uchendu stepped out of bounds as senior Chizoba Ekedigwe (Laurel, Md.) kept her from posting up under the rim. Uchendu was called for a technical foul after the turnover and Richardson-Smith's two free throws extended it to a two-possession game.
Seton Hall shot 9-of-10 from the line over the final 36 seconds while Butler turned it over four times. Despite leading by nine approaching a minute to play, Butler was able to get just one shot off and get to the free throw line just once over the final 60 seconds.
The Pirates saw three players score at least 20 points. Richardson-Smith led all scorers with 25 points, shooting 4-of-7 from three; she had eight in the final 47 seconds of the game. Daisha Simmons had 20 points, seven boards and four steals, and Ka-Deidre Simmons had 20 points and six assists, which allowed her to break the Seton Hall career-assist record; she has 535 assists, passing Kathy O'Reilly's previous all-time mark of 533. With 167 assists this season, Simmons is just seven shy of matching the single-season record she set just last year.
For the second game in a row Seton Hall jumped out to a fast start, taking a 7-0 lead as Daisha Simmons swiped the ball away from Murry, leading to a Ka-Deidre Simmons layup on the break. Butler missed its first three shots and turned the ball over twice before Sydney Buck hit from three at 16:34.
That field goal sparked what turned into a red hot shooting half for the Bulldogs, who hit 15 of their final 24 shot attempts of the period and shot 55.6 percent from the field to lead 38-37 at the half despite committing seven turnovers. The scoring came mostly on 3-pointers and jump shots, with only eight first-half points coming in the paint.
Butler hit three of its first four attempts from long distance, coming back to knot the score at 14-14 on a Langlois triple from the wing. It was that 3-point proficiency, particularly by Buck, that kept the Bulldogs in the game. Coming out of a timeout, Seton Hall scored seven points in 60 seconds, seeing its lead expand to 28-19, only Buck shot Butler back into the game, sinking her fourth triple of the half to pull her team within one, 30-29.
The Pirates started strong in the second half, but eventually went cold from the field, which led to the nine-point deficit approaching a minute to play. Seton Hall opened the period on an 11-3 run over the first 2:36, and the Pirates made seven of their first 10 shots from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
Daisha Simmons and Richardson-Smith both hit from deep to make it 54-46, only the Pirates scored just 13 points over the next 14 minutes, which included a field goal drought of nearly five minutes in the middle of the half. None of that mattered after the huge comeback, as Seton Hall closed the game with 18 points over the final 60 seconds.
Uchendu led Butler with 17 points and 19 rebounds, and Murry scored a team-high 18 points.
Seton Hall will face the winner of eight-seed Marquette and nine-seed Providence in the BIG EAST Quarterfinals next Sunday, March 8, in Rosemont, Ill., at 12 p.m. (CT). Marquette and Providence will square off in the BIG EAST first round on Saturday, March 7. Seton Hall's quarterfinal matchup will be nationally televised on Fox Sports 2.
