Ka-Deidre Simmons and Daisha Simmons Named All-Region
3/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ATLANTA - Seton Hall University graduate guards Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) and Daisha Simmons (Jersey City, N.J.) have been named Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-Region, Wednesday it was announced by the association. Simmons and Simmons, who were both unanimous First-Team All-BIG EAST performers, are the first All-Region honorees for Seton Hall since 1997.
Seton Hall, which posted a school-record 28 wins this season and ended a 20-year NCAA Tournament drought with an at-large berth and a No. 9 seed in the Albany Region, has never had multiple All-Region performers in the same year. SHU Athletics Hall of Famer Dana Wynn was the last to receive the national recognition, she was a three-time Kodak Honorable Mention All-American, with a run that ended in 1997.
The Pirates were one of just six program nation-wide to post a pair of All-Region candidates (Connecticut, Notre Dame, South Carolina, California and Western Kentucky). There were 52 All-Region performers across the eight regions, a grouping from which the 10-member WBCA Division I Coaches' All-America Team will be selected.
Ka-Deidre Simmons, who was named to the Nancy Lieberman NCAA Division I Point Guard of the Year Watch List and to the Naismith Award National Player of the Year Midseason 30 list, recently wrapped up what will unquestionably be regarded as one of the finest careers ever at Seton Hall.
After Simmons arrived for the 2010-11 season, Seton hall went 8-22 overall and 1-15 in the BIG EAST. By the time the four-time captain's career was finished, the Pirates had won their first-ever BIG EAST Regular Season title, won a school record 28 games and made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.
Simmons ranks second on the Seton Hall all-time scoring list with 1,717 points, is the Pirates' all-time assist leader with 562, and ranks second with 257 steals. During the 2014-15 season, she averaged a career-best 17.0 ppg, which ranked fourth in the BIG EAST, and scored in double figures in 32-of-34 games.
Simmons dished out a school-record 194 assists, breaking her own single-season record of 174, set just last year, and she boasts two of the top-10 single season scoring marks in program history, with 578 points during her final campaign, which is fifth all-time.
She was a three-time BIG EAST Player of the Week honoree this season, and was twice named the Met Basketball Writers Association Division I Player of the Week. After leading SHU to its first BIG EAST Tournament championship game since 1995, averaging 18.3 points, 6.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game with a pair of 20-point performances in three tournament games, she was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team for a second-straight year.
Daisha Simmons transferred to Seton Hall to play her final collegiate season and was nothing short of spectacular, also posting one of the more impressive individual seasons the Pirates have seen.
The BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, a first for Seton Hall, Simmons was third on the team averaging 16.7 points per game, but led Seton Hall and ranked second in the BIG EAST with 2.4 steals per game. Her 81 steals were good for third on the SHU single-season list, and she was regularly tasked with shutting down the opposing team's top guard.
She consistently demonstrated explosive offensive ability as well. She scored in double figures in 31-of-34 games and posted a pair of 30-point performances, dropping a season-high 32 points in an overtime win at Georgetown. Her 568 points this season tied for seventh at Seton Hall, and she also dished out 135 assists to crack the top 10 in that category as well.
Simmons was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week on Dec. 1, and landed on the conference Weekly Honor Roll on three occasions. She had three point-rebound double-doubles, with 14 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Marquette in the BIG EAST Tournament.
The 2015 WBCA Division I Coaches' All-America team will be announced Saturday, April 4, during the NCAA Women's Final Four Super Saturday festivities at Amalie Arena.
