St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Tops Pittsburgh, 69-66
2/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The win improves the Red Storm to 8-12 overall and 2-7 in the conference, while the Panthers fall to 10-9 and 2-6. St. John's has won two conference road games this season.
St. John's jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the game, holding Pittsburgh scoreless until 16:27. Following a 30-second timeout called by Pitt, the Panthers began a 7-2 run. At 7:47 Pittsburgh tied the game at 15 on a fastbreak layup. The Red Storm responded with five consecutive points, including Rainey's first three of the game. Pitt's leading scorer, Laine Selwyn, notched her first basket of the game at 5:12 remaining. A three-point play by sophomore Patrycja Gulak (Olsztyn, Poland)put the Red Storm up 25-18 with 3:18 remaining. Selwyn followed with her own three-point play to cut the lead to 27-21. Junior Shemika Stevens (New York, N.Y.) tipped in a bucket with one second remaining in the half, though, and stretched the Red Storm lead back to eight points (29-21) at the half.
St. John's connected on 46 percent (12 of 26) of its field goals in the first 20 minutes.
Pittsburgh came out hot in the second half, connecting on 7-of-7 to start the half. The Panthers tied the game at 31-31 on a jumper by Amy Kunich at the 17:24 mark. Kunich gave her team their first lead (35-33) at 16:01. A layup and two free throws by Rainey tied the game at 37-all with 13:01 to play. Gulak knocked down a short jumper off a pass from Stevens to put the Red Storm up 39-37, and they never trailed again. Pittsburgh pulled within two (57-55) with 1:44 remaining, but the Red Storm held a 64-57 lead with under a minute to go. St. John's made 8-of-9 foul shots in the final minute to seal the outcome.
Rainey led all scorers with 33 points, making 13-of-16 foul shots. She shot 9-of-16 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. Stevens added 16 on 50.0 percent shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from the line. Stevens who is averaging over 40 minutes of action over the last five games, also dished out four assists and had four rebounds.
Senior Creasie Fowler (Milwaukee, Wis.) pulled down a game-high nine boards, as the Red Storm outrebounded the Panthers, 37-28. Gulak had a quiet nine points and grabbed four rebounds.
Selwyn had 23 for Pittsburgh, while Kunich chipped in 19.
St. John's returns home on Tuesday, hosting second-ranked Connecticut at Alumni Hall. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
