St. John's University Athletics
Women's Basketball Travels To Monmouth
11/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y. - After a brief one-game stint at home, the St. John's women's basketball team returns to the road and travels to play Monmouth University on Wednesday in West Long Branch, N.J. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m.
• This contest between St. John's and Monmouth marks the fourth meeting between the two schools. The Red Storm owns the all-time series winning all three games. The last meeting between the teams came on Nov. 23, 2005, with St. John's posting its largest margin of victory, 72-49.
• The women's basketball team is off to a solid start on the year with a 3-1 slate. St. John's is coming off a big win against Dartmouth, 74-31, on Sunday afternoon. Kelly McManmon led the team on the offensive side with 16 points, while Recee Mitchell paced the way with 10 boards. Both totals were career highs for the players. This four-game start of the 2007-08 season marks the ninth time in history that the Red Storm has opened with a 3-1 record.
Four Of First Five On The Road • The game against Monmouth marks the fourth time this season that the Red Storm travels out of the Empire State. St. John's has only played in one home game during the opening five-game of 2007-08. The road schedule to start the season is the most since 2004-05 when the Red Storm opened with its first eight games away from Carnesecca Arena.
A Look At Monmouth • After opening the 2007-08 season losing its first four games, Monmouth snapped its losing skid with a 65-59 win over Fordham at the University of Miami Thanksgiving Tournament. The Hawks got their offense going in the second half and outscored the Rams by eight in the frame.
• Veronica Randolph led the team in scoring against the Rams with 18 points and finished tied for first with Jennifer Bender with eight boards. On the season, Randolph, who hasn't started a game, is leading the way with 11.8 points per game, while Bender is second with 9.4.
• Defensively, Monmouth is out-rebounding its opponents on the year, averaging 39.6 to its rivals 37.8. Bender is leading the team on the glass with an average of 8.4, while Randolph is grabbing 6.0 per contest.
• St. John's is the second BIG EAST opponent the Hawks will face this season. On Nov. 18, Monmouth played Villanova and lost to the Wildcats, 53-39.
Last Time Out • After starting off the 2007-08 season with three-straight road games, the St. John's women's basketball team finally opened up at home and made a statement with a 74-31 win over Dartmouth on Sunday afternoon in Carnesecca Arena.
• The contest featured the best all-around showing of the short season for the Red Storm, who dominated in every statistical category. The ball was spread around and 12 players saw action in the contest. St. John's shot 43.9 percent from the field, which was complemented by a 46.7 average from the three-point line. The Red Storm added 51 rebounds, five blocks and 13 steals to a stingy defensive effort that only allowed Dartmouth to shoot 25.5 percent.
• Junior Kelly McManmon tallied 16 points and Joy McCorvey scored 10. Five other players chipped in five points or more.
• On the boards, all but one player tallied a rebound in the game. Recee Mitchell led the team with 10, which is a new career-best. In addition, she also came close to tallying her first career double-double with nine points.
• With the game tied 6-6 at the 13:55 mark in the opening half, St. John's pulled away from the Big Green for good when it scored 12 unanswered points to jump ahead18-6.
• After shooting 38.9 from the field in the first half, the Red Storm offense continued to build momentum and put up 41 points in the second half while hitting 50 percent of its shots. Leading by 34 at the 10:58 mark, St. John's scored two of its 17 fast break points when Mitchell ran up the court and used a bounce pass to feed the ball to Kristin Moore who nailed a jumper.
A Huge Win Of Sorts • In the victory over Dartmouth, the Red Storm's won by 43 points, which is the largest margin of victory since St. John's defeated Providence by 53 points, 93-40, on Feb. 2, 2005.
• Dartmouth's 31 points was the least amount of points the Red Storm allowed since Nov. 19, 1979, when St. John's held Dominican to just 28 points, winning 93-28.
• With the win, the Red Storm improves to 23-11 in its home-openers.
• Kelly McManmon's 16 points were all scored in the first half, as she was 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arch.
What A Difference A Year Makes • During the offseason, Recee Mitchell made drastic improvements to her game and it is really showing in her sophomore campaign. She battled back from a nagging injury in her rookie campaign is seeing a significant boost in her playing time thanks to her increased athleticism and play on the court.
• She is averaging 12.3 minutes per game, up from last year's 8.3. Mitchell has come off the bench and provided solid post play, averaging 5.8 points and 5.0 rebounds. Last year she only scored 1.5 points and pulled down 1.3 boards per contest. The Tyler, Texas, native also netted her first double-digit rebound game with 10 boards against Dartmouth on Nov. 25.
Slowly Working Their Way Back • After sitting out the first three games with a pelvic injury, senior Kia Wright made her debut against Dartmouth. The guard saw 14 minutes of action and recorded four points on 4-of-4 from the line, three rebounds and two assists.
• Freshman Sheree Ledbetter also made her season debut against Dartmouth after sitting out with a foot injury. In six minutes of play, she tallied a point and pulled in three rebounds.
Wright Looks To Move Up Record Book • Kia Wright became the 15th player in Red Storm history to score 1,000 points and finished up her junior season ranked ranked 10th all-time with 1,181 points at St. John's. With four points in her first game of the season, she is only six points shy of moving to ninth place. Below is a listing of the Top-10 in that category: • 1. Ling-Ling Hou 1950 1977-80 • 2. Debbie Beckford 1753 1980-83 • 3. Cozette Ballentine 1739 1989-92 • 4. Sabrina Johnson 1431 1988-90 • 5. Sue Bretthauer 1399 1975-78 • 6. Jackie Smith 1298 1983-86 • 7. Rita Haywood 1284 1978-81 • 8. Pam Odom 1282 1991-94 • 9. Kerry Karst 1190 1980-82 • 10. Kia Wright 1181 2004-
Connecting From Downtown • In her first season donning a Red Storm uniform, junior Kelly McManmon is not only showing what a good player she is, but also how good of a perimeter shooter she is. She is currently leading the team with a blistering 55.0 3-point field-goal percentage, nailing 11-of-20. She has hit multiple treys in three of four games and has shot 60.0 or better in those contests. She sank four 3-pointers against Dartmouth on Nov. 25, falling one basket shy of tying for 10th place in the STJ single-game record books. Although she seems to have found her knack from long range, the Lee, Mass., native is shooting 55.2 percent overall, going 16-for-29 in four games on the season.
Statistical Rankings In The BIG EAST • Monique McLean and Kelly McManmon are ranked among the top in the statistical rankings among the BIG EAST. McLean is ranked 13th in scoring (14.3 ppg), seventh in free throw percentage (89.5) and is tied for third averaging 6.0 defensive rebounds per game. McManmon ranks third with a 55.0 3-point percentage and has the 10th best shooting percentage (55.2).
On Deck • There will be a Massachusetts theme for St. John's and its next two opponents. The Red Storm will welcome Boston University to Carnesecca Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. and will host UMass on Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. St. John's leads the Terriers in the all-time series record, 10-3, including winning all six at home. The Red Storm has the 7-3 edge over the Minutewomen, but has lost the last two meetings.
