Seton Hall Athletics
The Pirates earned a tough victory on the road against Villanova on Friday, winning 59-56. The Pirates have now won six straight games, improving to 18-2 on the season, 7-1 in Big East play.
The blue and white were led by graduate student guards in Daisha Simmons and Ka-Deidre Simmons and junior forward Tabatha Richardson-Smith. The trio combined for 45 of the Pirates’ 59 points. Daisha Simmons led the team with a double- double, scoring 19 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.
The reigning two-time MBWA Player of the Week, Ka-Deidre Simmons, finished the game with 15 points behind Daisha Simmons’s 19 points.
Richardson-Smith nearly had a double-double of her own with 11 points and 8 boards after scoring 35 and pulling down 15 rebounds versus DePaul on Jan. 18, a game that saw the Pirates score a program-high 107 points in a single game.
The story of the game was the inside play of Seton Hall. The Pirates outscored the Wildcats 28-14 in the paint. The work on the boards was evident with the blue and white out rebounding Villanova 56-36. Graduate student forward Janee Johnson had 12 rebounds, second most behind Daisha Simmons’s 13 boards.
The blue and white controlled much for the game resulting in a couple of double digit leads, but allowed Nova to fight back each time. The Pirates scored just two points in the final six minutes of the first half. The Wildcats only led once in the game when they were up 3-0 early.
Villanova would eventually tie the game at 38 in the middle of the half, but the Pirates answered with a 9-0 run. Seton Hall sealed the win with a 49 second possession in the final minute of the game, with the help of two offensive rebounds. Villanova tried to shoot their way to a win hoisting up 41 3-pointers, connecting on 11 of them.
The Wildcats were led by junior forward Emily Leer with 15 points in 24 minutes connecting on four threes. Villanova needed their leading scorer down the stretch, but Leer got into foul trouble early and had to sit for most of the fourth quarter. Junior guard Caroline Coyer finished the game with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Pirates will look to extend their win streak on Sunday when the Pirates head to Georgetown to close out their two-game road trip.
Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Javon Glenn can be reached at javon.glenn@student.shu.edu or on twitter @javong25. For complete coverage of Seton Hal athletics, follow @setoniansports.
