St. John's University Athletics
Fordham Squeaks By St. John's, 53-49
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
An 8-of-8 performance from the foul line helped St. John's take a 25-20 lead at the half. After jumping ahead 4-0, the Red Storm relinquished their lead twice, but managed to come back. Junior guard Reka Szavuly (Miskolc, Hungary) knocked down two of three from behind the arc for a first half-high eight points, while also grabbing four rebounds. In her return to the starting lineup sophomore Patrycja Gulak (Olsztyn, Poland)had six points in the first half, four on free throws.
The Red Storm went ahead by as many as eight points early in the second half. Fordham, however, would get back in the game with work form the foul line. The Rams went on a 16-8 run - with eight of their points coming from the charity stripe - and tied the game. In the half, each team shot 6-of-22 (27.3%) from the line, but the Rams went to the line 25 times, converting 21 for points.
The Red Storm trailed by four with two minutes remaining, but junior Shemika Stevens (New York, N.Y.) hit three from the free throw line to cut the Rams lead to one. Fordham's Mobdayi Akiode hit two of her eight free throws with 48 seconds on the clock and Stevens responded with a jumper to keep the difference at two points. With eight seconds remaining in the game Laura Hanson tallied her only points of the game - a pair of free throws - to seal the 53-49 win.
In the game St. John's shot 1.000 percent from the charity stripe on a 19-of-19 effort, a new program record. Stevens connected on all six of her attempted and finished the day with a game-high 16 points. Szavuly had a game-high seven rebounds in the game along with 12 points and two blocks. Gulak had nine points and four rebounds. Junior Nora Gyuris (Pecs, Hungary), returning to action after missing the last four games with an ankle sprain, tallied six points and a game-high three assists.
The Red Storm return to action on Tuesday, December 10 when they host Fairleigh Dickinson at Alumni Hall. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 pm.
