Seton Hall takes it back to 1995
- gbalekji
- Mar 9, 2015
- 3 min read
SHU will take on DePaul after ousting St. John's
By George Balekji - Staff Writer
On March 9, 2015
Rosemont, Ill. – “Coach you’re struggling to lead this team right now… You need to have her (Ka-Deidre Simmons) back better and you need to understand that it’s hard for her to lead this team until you’re ready to lead this team”.
That was the advice that women’s head coach Tony Bozzella reminisced to after his No.24 ranked team defeated the 4-seeded St. John’s Red Storm 72-60 in the semifinal round of Big East Tournament on Monday.
He looked back to the middle of his first season in South Orange to put into perspective how far his team, and Simmons has come in just over a year. Now, after the Newark-native led both teams in scoring with 20 points to accompany 8 assists; the Pirates look back to 1995, which was the last time Seton Hall was in the Big East women’s basketball tournament final.
St. John’s had the lead through the first ten minutes of action but a Tabatha Richardson-Smith three at 9:27 gave the Pirates a 14-13 advantage they would never relinquish. That was the first of eight straight points the junior guard from Bay City, Texas would score to finish with 15 points, 11 of which came during the first stanza.
An early self-inflicted wound came for the Johnnies when Aliyyah Handford picked up her second foul at the 10:34 mark in the first half. As Handford subbed out, St. John’s was up 13-11 and when the Red Storm’s leading scorer entered back into the game with 3:31 remaining in the first, the Pirates went on a 19-10 run taking a 38-27 lead with them into the lockerroom.
Ka-Deidre Simmons knew just how big the absence of Handford was for the Big East 4-seed.
“It was key because they really don’t have anybody to come off the bench to replace what Aliyyah can bring to the game. And that’s where we took advantage,” Simmons said.
As Richardson-Smith caught fire with her long range shot hitting three of six attempts, and Simmons finished strong shooting 10-14 from the field; Janee Johnson had the hot hand between the two guards.
“They would dribble into the lane and kind of make the defense collapse and feed the ball to me,” the graduate student who finished with 14 points said. “I just think ‘knock it down’. Did it time and time again in practice, knock it down.”
She did just that. All four of her field goals on the evening coming from long range as she finished a rebound shy of a double-double, with all nine coming on the defensive end. Johnson described battling with Amber Thompson and Jade Walker in the paint.
“They’re some of the toughest competitors I play against in the Big East. They’re just really fierce players… and it’s really tough, and we just got it done today. It was great,” Johnson said.
Coach Joe Tartamella of St. John’s is one of four head coaches to get the best of this experienced team, handing them their second loss of the season with a 59-50 victory on Jan. 2 took note of the talent they have.
“It’s a team that I’ve probably – and hopefully we don’t see it again – of players who have six-year, five year experience. It’s a veteran group that’s impressive,” Tartamella said.
Breaking through the frustration of what is likely a concluded season for the 10-loss Red Storm, Tartamella also paid credit to Ka-Deidre Simmons.
“I’m happy for a kid like (Ka-Deidre) Simmons who I love, who I know well, that she has an opportunity in her career now… to get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.”
When asking Simmons about looking ahead to the first championship game Seton Hall will compete in in 20 years, the leader of this experienced crew had a simple answer.
“People constantly say, ‘Oh, one game at a time, take it one game at a time’, but I tell my team one possession at a time. We try to dominate every possession… we don’t look ahead… that’s something we haven’t done all year. We take it one possession at a time, and when the game comes, we just play,” she said.
Just play is what the 28-4 Pirates will do tomorrow night at 7:30 ET against the DePaul Blue Demons, who the Hall has swept this season. One program will look to punch a ticket to the big dance, as the other will hope to remain worthy of a bid. One possession at a time is what will determine the best team in the Big East, and potentially add another milestone to this historic season.
Previously published on thesetonian.com
http://www.thesetonian.com/news/view.php/862442/Women-moving-on-to-BET-Championship
Comments