Richardson-Smith BIG EAST Player of the Week
3/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK - For her role in helping the RV/#25 Seton Hall University women's basketball team clinch the BIG EAST Regular Season title, junior guard Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) was named the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Player of the Week Monday it was announced by the league office.
Seton Hall (26-4, 15-3) swept a conference road weekend with wins at Xavier and Butler to finish in a tie for first place in the league standings and capture the BIG EAST Regular Season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the first time in program history. Richardson-Smith led the Pirates in scoring in both games, averaging 24.5 ppg over the weekend, and making significant contributions to The Hall's amazing come from behind win at Butler on Sunday afternoon.
It is the third time this season Richardson-Smith has been named the conference Player of the Week, which matches Ka-Deidre Simmons' total for the year. It is the fifth time in her career Richardson-Smith has received the nod, which is a program record.
Starting with that win over Butler, Richardson-Smith finished with a game-high 25 points, 17 of which came in the second half, and she scored eight points during the final minute of the game. Her fourth 3-pointer of the day came at a critical point as the Pirates trailed Butler by seven with fewer than 50 seconds to play.
Richardson-Smith knocked down that triple at the top of the key to pull the Pirates within four, then 19 seconds later, grabbed an offensive rebound and banked in a shot as she was fouled, completing the 3-point play to put the Pirates up for good.
For the game, she shot 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range, also grabbing six rebounds. She was also 5-for-6 from the line, making all three of her attempts with under a minute to play.
In the win over Xavier, she was just as impressive, hitting four more 3-pointers while shooting 10-of-17 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range, with a pair of blocks and a steal.
In two games, Richardson-Smith shot 56.3 percent from the field (18-of-32) and 53.3 percent from 3-point range (8-of-15).
Richardson-Smith leads Seton Hall and ranks third in the BIG EAST averaging 17.8 ppg. The Pirates' all-time 3-point leader, she has 188 career triples and 83 this year, leaving her just two shy of matching her single-season record of 85, set just last season. Additionally, Richardson-Smith leads the BIG EAST and ranks in the top-20 nationally with 2.9 3-pointers per game.
Seton Hall will open BIG EAST Tournament competition in the quarterfinals on Sunday, March 8, at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. The Pirates will face either No. 8 seed Marquette or No. 9 seed Providence. Tipoff for the Pirates will be at 12 p.m. (CT) and the game will be nationally broadcast on Fox Sport 2.
BIG EAST Player of the Week
Tabatha Richardson-Smith - Seton Hall, G
BIG EAST Freshman of the Week
Kenisha Bell - Marquette, G
BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
Caroline Coyer - Villanova, G
Chanise Jenkins - DePaul, G
Lexus Murry - Butler, G
Tori Rule - Providence, G
Aliyah Zantt - Xavier, G
