In a game of debuts, the Seton Hall Women's Basketball team fell 64- 57 to Florida- Gulf Coast in their season opener on Friday night in Fort Myers, denying head coach Anne Donovan a win in her first game as the head coach at Seton Hall.
Freshman guard and Newark native Ka-Deidre Simmons led all scorers in the game with 19 points off the bench in her Pirate debut, connecting on 7-12 shots from the field and 5-8 from the free throw line. She also tied for the team high in rebounds with 7 in the game.
Redshirt sophomore Jasmine Crew added 17 points in her debut for Seton Hall, hitting on 6-14 shots from the field, including 1-3 from deep, and 4-4 from the free throw line. Crew also led the team in assists with 3 and turnovers with 6 in her first game for Seton Hall after sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer regulations.
The Pirates also got 8 points and 7 rebounds from junior forward Kandice Green, the Pirates' leading returning scorer from last season, in 23 foul-plagued minutes.
Others making their debuts for the blue and white Friday night were freshmen Elaine Swaby (zero points, 2 rebounds in 7 minutes), Jazzmine Johnson (5 points in 16 minutes off the bench), Tiffani Blackman (zero points, 1 rebound), and Tajay Ashmeade (zero points, 3 rebounds in 5 minutes).
In a game that saw a combined 55 turnovers (against just 16 combined assists), the Pirates were done in by foul trouble (two players- Green and Swaby- fouled out with four others coming within one foul of doing the same) and by a six-point possession late in the game.
With the Pirates trailing by four, Crew converted with a three-point play with 2:34 remaining to cut it to 48-47. After a 3-pointer by FGCU, the Eagles' Kelsey Jacobson added a free throw on a foul away from the ball to make it 52-47. Jacobson missed the second free throw, but FGCU was able to corral the rebound. The Eagles later connected on two from the stripe with 1:54 on the clock, completing the six-point possession and making it 54-47. Seton Hall could get no closer than five the rest of the way.
The Pirates host Temple on Tuesday night at 7 at Walsh Gymnasium in their home opener.
