No. 24 Seton Hall women advance past St. John's 72-60

Mar 9, 2015, 11:33 pm

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Ka-Deidre Simmons scored 20 points, 14 in the second half, as No. 24 and top-seeded Seton Hall women beat No. 4 seed St. John's 72-60 on Monday night to advance to its first Big East Conference tournament final since 1995.

Seton Hall will play No. 2 seed DePaul on Tuesday.

Seton Hall jumped out to a 38-27 lead at halftime behind four 3-pointers by Janee Johnson and three from Tabatha Richardson-Smith. Eight of Seton Hall's 14 first-half field goals were from behind the 3-point arc.

St. John's was 0 of 8 from distance in the game.

Johnson had 14 points, all in the first half, and Richardson-Smith added 13 for Seton Hall (28-4).

Jade Walker and Aliyyah Handford had 18 apiece for St. John's (21-10).

St. John's had a 13-9 lead when Handford picked up her second foul at the 10:34 mark. Seton Hall took advantage with a 24-8 spurt and led by 11 at halftime.