St. John's University Athletics
PEAHENS SNEAK BY STORM, 60-59
11/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The first 10 minutes of the game were a seasaw battle between the Peahens and the Red Storm. But St. Peters made its move trailing 12-11 with 11:03 to play in the first half. The Peahens scored eight straight points to go up 18-12, while holding the Red Storm scoreless from the field for 4:30. The Peahens extended their lead to 10 with just over three minutes remaining in the half, and led by four at the break. St. Johns was plagued by 20 first half turnovers and connected on just six-of-22 field goal attempts. One bright spot in the half was St. Johns free throw shooting, as the team converted 13 of 15 from the line.
Junior Telisha Warner (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./S. Broward) layed one in on the Red Storms first possession of the second half to cut the lead to two (29-27), but not before the Peahens made another run, scoring 11 unanswered points to assume a 40-27 lead at the 16:47 mark. St. Peters would maintain the double-digit lead over the Red Storm until the 7:50 mark of the second half, when the Red Storm slowly started to chip away at the lead. Trailing 53-42, junior Rasheedah Brown (Newark, N.J.Independence CC) drained a three-pointer from the right wing off a pass from Warner to cut the Peahen lead to eight. Warner then hit a running jumper and Brown nailed a pair of free throws to trim the lead to four (54-50) with just under five minutes to play. With 2:32 remaining, Warner hit two clutch free throws to pull the Red Storm to within one (57-56). St. Johns then came up with a huge defensive stop at the other end, setting up Brown who nailed her second three-pointer of the half to give the Red Storm their first lead of the half (59-57). Brown then immediately fouled Lindsay Gonzalez, who hit one of two free throws at the other end, cutting the SJU lead to 59-58 with 1:34 to play. St. Johns called a :30 timeout, but with a fresh shot clock, turned the ball over on a traveling call. The Peahens regained possession, which led to Cromers heroics in the final seconds.
Warner led all scorers with 17 points, including nine-of-11 from the free throw line. Brown was the only other SJU player in double figures with 14 points. Freshman Sherri Brown (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro) came off the bench to add nine points, and senior Eukeisha Iton (Maimi, Fla./Miami-Dade CC) pulled down a team high six rebounds and chipped in four points. The Storm outrebounded the Peahens 39-29 and converted 21 of 28 free throw attempts in then losing effort.
The Red Storm will be back in action on Friday, November 25 when they travel to Las Vegas, Nev., for the UNLV Rebel Shootout over the Thanksgiving holiday. St. Johns will face Charlotte in the first round at 5:00 PT.
