The women's basketball team defeated the Army Black Knights on Tuesday night by the score of 50-40. This marks the Pirate's second victory in a row after beating Massachusetts on Nov. 21, improving their season record to 3-2.
Seton Hall grabbed a 6-0 lead with two baskets from junior forward Kandice Green, and one basket from junior guard Jasmine Crew. That lead did not last long with Army scoring the next five points, cutting the lead to one.
With the Hall leading 9-8 with 9:45 left in the first half, freshman guard Ka-Deidre Simmons hit from long distance, giving the Pirates a 12-8 lead. A shot from junior Whitney Wood then extended the lead to six.
While the Pirates' defense held the Black Knights at nine points, a pull-up jumper from Crew put another two points on the board, 16-9. A long rally from Army cut the Pirates lead to two and a three pointer from Molly Yardley gave the Black Knights their first lead of the night at 23-22.
With 13:36 left to go in the game, a transition bucket by freshman guard Jazzmine Johnson cut the Pirates deficit back to one, and moments later she hit another to give the Pirates the edge.
With the score knotted up at 31, Wood's basket gave Seton Hall a two point lead before Simmons pushed the lead to four with a layup with 8:20 left to play.
A steal and transition bucket by Johnson made the score 37-32, and Simmons then buried a three ball to extend the lead to 40-32. After another stop by the Pirates, Simmons connected again to give the Pirates a 42-32 advantage.
A small surge by Army brought them within six with 1:30 left in the game, but the Black Knights could not get closer than that.
Crew scored a game-high 16 points and Simmons had 12 points to go along with four rebounds. Seton Hall scored 24 points off of 27 Army turnovers, and their defense held the Black Knights to only 38 shot attempts for the game.
The Pirates look for their third win in a row on Friday against Boston College at the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
John Provenzano can be reached at john.provenzano@student.shu.edu.
