St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
8-10, 2-5
Seton Hall*
11-7, 3-4
St. John's Loses Battle to Seton Hall, 63-52
1/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2004
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall Pirates (11-7, 3-4) out battled the Red Storm in the second half, to take tonight's game 63-52. Behind 13 second-half points from Charlene Thomas, the Pirates used a 14-2 run over an eight minute stretch to put the game out of reach for St. John's, who fall to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in BIG EAST action.
St. John's pulled out to an 11-8 lead after Kim MacMillan (Toms River, N.J.) followed her own three-pointer with a fast break lay-up off of a feed by Shemika Stevens (New York, N.Y.). The Pirates quickly responded, capitalizing on back-to-back St. John's turnovers for four-straight points and a 12-11 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the first. Stevens answered with a made three two possessions later and MacMillan added a jumper from in the paint to put St. John's back on top 16-12.
The Red Storm pulled out to their largest lead, a 25-17 edge, after another three by MacMillan and a jump shot by Reka Szavuly (Miskolc, Hungary) went unanswered by Seton Hall. Heta Korpivaara hit the first of two free throws for Seton Hall, ending the Pirates two-minute scoreless streak and Ashley Bush hit a 15-foot jumper to pull Seton hall within five, before Julie Costello's basket made the score 25-22, St. John's. The Pirates pulled within one on the next play as Charlene Thomas hit a jump shot, but Stevens' two made free throws for the Red Storm put St. John's back up by three. Each team scored on their next possessions, leaving the Red Storm up 29-26 at the half.
The Pirates opened the second half with a 6-0 run over the first two and a half minutes, leaving them with a 32-29 lead. Stevens ended the streak with two free throws, pulling St. John's back within one, but Thomas completed a three-point play for the Pirates and Asia Carroll added a bucket to give Seton Hall a 37-31 advantage. Angie Clark (Copiague, N.Y.) and Stevens scored for St. John's the next two times down the floor, cutting the lead to two.
Seton Hall was back up 43-38 with 13 minutes to play, when Clark sank a running lay-up, putting the game back to one possession, as the Red Storm trailed 43-40. Seton Hall outscored the Red Storm 14-2 over the next eight minutes, to take their largest lead, a 57-42 advantage with 4:51 remaining, before Clark stopped the run with one-of-two from the foul line at the 4:36 mark.
Szavuly scored the final five points of the game, but the run Seton Hall run proved to be too much, as St. John's fell by 11.
MacMillan finished with a game-high 17 points for St. John's, while Clark added 10 points and Stevens totaled nine. Thomas led Seton Hall with 15 and Monique Blake added 11 points and eight boards in the win.
St. John's will travel to Connecticut on Saturday to take on the #4 ranked Huskies. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
