The women's team fell short of an upset bid at No. 16 Louisville Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. by a score of 72-62.
Led by senior Brittany Morris, who contributed 20 points, the Pirates managed to have three players in double figures.
Louisville led by as many as 13 points in the second half; however, the Pirates stayed close by holding the Cardinals without a field goal for the final seven minutes of the game.
What killed the Pirates in the late stages of the game was Louisville's sharp free throw shooting. The Cardinals shot 12-for-12 from the line over the final 6:28 of the game, including eight in the final minute of play.
This is the fifth game on the season when Morris registered at least 20 points. She hit three 3-pointers to extend her school record to 168 buckets from beyond the arc.
The Pirates also got a strong night out of point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons, who finished with 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Simmons scored the first six points for the Hall, giving the Pirates an early 4-0 lead in the process.
The Cardinals roared back with eight unanswered points, before Simmons slowed the attack down with a mid-range jumper.
The Hall got in a few runs, but they were short lived. The Pirates were able to bring the game to an 11-11 tie off of Britanny Morris' first 3-pointer of the game; however, Louisville regained the lead with a brief scoring run of their own, pulling ahead, 17-11.
Again, the Pirates would climb back, scoring the next five points of the game, those points coming from a Morris three followed by Simmons' fourth field goal of the half. Ultimately, the Cardinals' offense was clicking on all cylinders and they managed to put up 19 points over the final 7:41 of the first half.
Louisville shot 57 percent from the floor in the first half, including hitting five of its final six shots from the field.
A bright spot for the Pirates was their physical play down low. They controlled the paint 16-8, but Louisville's dominant 3-point shooting kept enough distance between the two teams.
Alexis Brown scored the first five points of the second half for the Hall, bringing the Pirates within five points, 38-33, as she converted a three-point play. She finished with a career-high 14 points.
An 11-2 run powered behind a pair of Shoni Schimmel three pointers extended Louisville's lead to 13 points. Once again, the Pirates were able to keep it close with another scoring spurt, pulling to within seven.
On their next possession, the Cardinals' Jude Schimmel hit a three to go up by 13. The Cardinals would hit just two more field goals over the final 10 minutes of the game, having to rely on clutch free throw shooting to finish the game.
Antonita Slaughter led Louisville with 17 points while Shoni Schimmel finished with 15 points and six assists. The Cardinals shot 24-for-30 from the stripe and 8-for-14 from 3-point distance.
The Pirates wrap up their regular season on Saturday, March 2, when they host St. John's for Senior Day at Walsh Gymnasium at 9 p.m.
Prior to tip-off, Seton Hall will honor seniors Terry Green, Breanna Jones, Alexandra Maseko, and Brittany Morris, who will be playing for the final time at Walsh Gymnasium.
David Heim can be reached at david.heim@student.shu.edu. He can also be found on Twitter @davidheim12.
