Seton Hall Athletics
Fresh off the Thanksgiving holiday, the Seton Hall women’s basketball team defeated Saint Peters 75-45 on Saturday, Nov. 29 at the semifinal of the Seton Hall Thanksgiving Classic.
Leading the way for the Pirates was guard Daisha Simmons. The graduate student out of Jersey City led all players with 30 points, going 12-for-19 from the field.
The first half was far from pretty for both teams. The normally high-scoring Pirates shot just 11-for-34 (32.4 percent) in the game’s opening 20 minutes, but forced the Peacocks, who got their first field goal nearly 13 minutes in, into 13 giveaways.
Daisha Simmons was sensational in the first half, hitting 6-of-11 shots for 16 points and five rebounds. The transfer from Alabama nailed three of her four three-point attempts on the day, and continuously pickpocketed the Peacocks guards for three steals.
“It was gonna take time to get her flowing,” head coach Tony Bozzella said of Daisha Simmons. “DiDi was off today, and Daisha said ‘I got you.’ That’s the best part about having three great guards, with Tab, too. They all balance eachother out really well.”
Bra’Shey Ali nearly had a double-double in the first half (10 points, seven rebounds), and finished the game 12 points and 10 boards. Tabatha Richardson-Smith hit six of her 11 field goal attempts for 15 points.
Ka-Deidre Simmons, who has been the team’s best player in the young season, missed all seven of her first half field goal attempts, but turned it on in the second half to end with eight points and four assists. It was the first time in 33 games that Ka-Diedre Simmons did not finish with a double-double.
“Great leader, great captain,” Bozzella said of Ka-Deidre Simmons, whose effort on defense made up for her off-day shooting. “She cared about winning, and that’s all she cared about. She wasn’t mad about having no points [in the first half], she was mad about missing seven shots that could’ve given us a better lead. That’s the best part about having her…I thank God I have her every day.”
Alyssa Velles was the lone bright spots for Saint Peters. The guard knocked down seven of her 13 shot attempts, including a trio of three-pointers, for a team-high 17 points. She was the only Peacock in double-figures.
Bozzella burned a timeout 45 seconds into the second half, clearly unhappy with the easy lay-in his team had handed to Saint Peters. The Peacocks came out with some energy, but Richardson-Smith gave them a reality check with back-to-back buckets, one of which for an and-one. Daisha Simmons followed that with an and-one of her own to give Seton Hall a 41-22 lead with 17:10 to go.
The Pirates played man-to-man most of the game, but when they broke out their strangling full-court trap defense early on in the second half, the Peacocks wilted like flowers at the first sign of winter.
Seton Hall turned the game into a track meet, and the lead was extended to 30 points with over 10 minutes to go Scores from Tara Inman and Chizoba Ekedigwe put the Pirates up 61-29 with 9:40 left. Rounding out the Pirates efforts was freshman Claire Lundberg, who struggled on the day, scoring six points. “A great shooter but she was struggling,” Bozzella said.
The Pirates continued pouring it on, and Bozzella eventually emptied the bench around the 3-minute mark.
“I wanted to do that,” Bozzella said. “The kids have been working hard at practice, and I think they’re all very good players that will have a big role on the team, whether it’s today, tomorrow or down the line.”
Seton Hall will play the winner of Saint Francis and Saint Joseph’s, which will be determined today at 2:30, in the Final tomorrow at 2:30 at Walsh Gymnasium.
Thomas Duffy can be reached at thomas.duffy@student.shu.edu or on twitter @TJDhoops.
