St. John's University Athletics
#24 VILLANOVA TOPS RED STORM, 63-52
2/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Red Storm fall to 6-13 overall and 1-7 in the league, while the Wildcats improve to 15-5 and 6-3.
Trailing 31-24 at the half and by as many as 17 in the second half, the Red Storm made a late run to get back into it. St. John's trailed 54-44 with 5:29 to play when senior Katrina Johns (Baltimore, Md.) made four consecutive free throws and hit a short jumper following a steal by classmate Latasha Thompson (Newark, N.J.) to make it a four-point game (54-50). The Wildcats relied on a strong perimeter game and seemed to come up with clutch three-point shots to kill the Red Storm's momentum. Trish Juhline nailed a trey from the top of the key to push the lead back to 57-50 with 1:42 to go. The Red Storm turned the ball over on their next possession and after a Villanova :30 timeout, freshman Courtney Mix found Brandi Barnes wide open in the low post for an easy layup to make it 59-50. The Red Storm were able to connect on just one more field goal, a driving layup by Thompson, the rest of the way.
Junior Rasheedah Brown (Newark, N.J.) paced four SJU players in double figures with a team-high 15 points, marking the 19th straight game that she has recorded a double digit scoring performance. Her streak is the fifth longest run of double figure scoring games in St. John's history. Thompson added 11 points and Johns and freshman Sherri Brown (Willingboro, N.J.) chipped in 10 apiece.
St. John's only committed nine turnovers in the game, tying its season-low. But the Red Storm could not contain Barnes, who hit seven of 12 shots from the floor for a game-high 20 points. The Red Storm were also outrebounded 38-23.
The Red Storm return to Alumni Hall on Saturday, February 3 when they host BIG EAST rival Seton Hall at 2:00.
