St. John's Opens Season With St. Bonaventure

11/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Nov. 12, 2011

Game Info
St. John's vs. St. Bonaventure
Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m.
Carnesecca Arena (5,602)

QUEENS, N.Y. - No. 25 St. John's opens the 2011-12 season on Saturday, hosting fellow New York State university, St. Bonaventure in 2 p.m. tip off at Carnesecca Arena. Red Storm fans across the country can follow the action via STJ-TV's StormTracker All-Access live webcast with Tony Luftman and Nicole Kaczmarski on the call. Live stats will also be available via GameTracker on RedStormSports.com.

Tip Off Quick Hits
Saturday's contest is just the second meeting all-time between the Red Storm and Bonnies, who started their series last season. St. John's defeated St. Bonaventure, 55-44, at the Reilly Center in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., on Nov. 29, 2010.
Prior to tip off, the Red Storm will unveil its 2011 NCAA Tournament banner, marking its sixth NCAA Tournament berth in program history. The contest against the Bonnies also marks the start of head coach Kim Barnes Arico's 10th season at the helm of St. John's women's basketball program.
St. John's women's basketball alumnae will play in a pregame alumnae game in Taffner Field House at 11 a.m. At halftime, the Red Storm will recognize its alumnae base in attendance.
Saturday's game is also the featured Military Appreciation Day. St. John's players will be wearing army gear during warm ups prior to tip off.

STJ In Season-Openers
During the Kim Barnes Arico Era, St. John's is 7-2 in season-openers. Overall, St. John's is 26-11 (.703) in season tips since 1974-75. Barnes Arico's only losses came to Buffalo (L, 63-56) on Nov. 22, 2002 and Iona (L, 66-56) on Nov. 9, 2006.
The last time St. John's played a season-opener in Carnesecca Arena was during the 2008-09 season. The Red Storm hosted Northeastern on Nov. 14, 2008. St. John's defeated Northeastern 70-52.

Red Storm vs. Bonnies
The series between St. John's and St. Bonaventure is a young one as the Red Storm and Bonnies met for the first time last season on Nov. 29, 2010 in St. Bonaventure, N.Y.
St. John's defeated St. Bonaventure, 55-44, to take a 1-0 series lead on the Bonnies.

Coaching Match Up
10th-year St. John's head coach Kim Barnes Arico is 152-124 (.551) at St. John's. She is 246-196 (.557) overall as a head coach.
Barnes Arico marked her first win over St. Bonaventure last season.
St. Bonaventure head coach Jim Crowley is entering his 12th season at the helm of the Bonnies women's basketball program. Crowley is 154-174 (.470) as head coach of the Bonnies program and 193-211 overall as a head coach.
Barnes Arico is 1-0 against Crowley all-time.

Against the Atlantic 10
In the past two seasons, St. John's has been undefeated at 5-0 against teams in the current Atlantic 10.
In 2010-11, the Red Storm defeated St. Bonaventure, 55-44 (Nov. 29) and Rhode Island, 73-49 (Dec. 11). In 2009-10, STJ defeated UMass, 82-52 (Nov. 18), St. Joseph's, 81-74 (Nov. 29) and Rhode Island (Dec. 13).
The Red Storm will play two-consecutive A10 opponents to open 2011-12, playing the Bonnies in the season-opener on Nov. 12 and La Salle at Carnesecca Arena on Nov. 16.
Last season, St. John's went 12-3 against non-BIG EAST teams, including a victory over Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Since the season-opener in 2009-10, STJ is 24-5 against non-con foes.

When Last They Met
The last time St. John's and St. Bonaventure met was on Nov. 29, 2010. Then-No. 22/24 St. John's defeated St. Bonaventure on the road, 55-44, with four of the Red Storm's five starters recording double digit scoring efforts.
Da'Shena Stevens led the scoring with her fourth double double in seven games, 17 points, 11 rebounds. The Red Storm never trailed the Bonnies and went on a 17-6 run in the final minutes of play to hold on to a victory. Then-senior Centhya "Coco" Hart and guard Shenneika Smith each bucketed 12 points, while guard Eugeneia McPherson added 10.
For the Bonnies, Megan Van Tatenhove led with 12 points.
The Red Storm outscored the Bonnies 17-8 off turnover and 15-8 in second chance points.
The game had been tied 38-38 with 8:36 remaining.

Scouting St. Bonaventure
The Bonnies have won six-straight season-openers and has not lost a road game to start the season since head coach Jim Crowley's first year in 2000-01, a 97-75 loss to Cincinnati.
Prior to Saturday's season-opener, St. Bonaventure had played an exhibition contest against Division II's No. 23 Edinboro. The Bonnies defeated Edinboro, 75-65 (Nov. 4) at the Reilly Center. The DII school led by as much as 11 in the first half before St. Bonaventure turned it up and pull away.
The Bonnies return all five starters from a squad that advanced to the second round of the WNIT in 2010-11. Last year's St. Bonaventure team went 21-12 and lost to St. John's fellow BIG EAST school Syracuse, 63-50 (March 21), ending their season on the same day as the Red Storm.
St. Bonaventure finished tied for third in the A10, but was picked to finish sixth in the 2011-12 preseason A-10 coaches poll. Senior Megan Van Tatenhove was named to the preseason first team and classmate Jessica Jenkins was voted onto the third team.
Van Tatenhove averaged 14.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg and 1.8 apg in 2010-11.

On This Date In STJ History
The last time St. John's played on Nov. 12 was last year, as the Red Storm opened the 2010-11 season with a 64-50 victory over Marist at the Kansas State Wildcat Classic. It was the only other time STJ played on Saturday's date.
Nov. 12 is the second earliest start to the season in St. John's women's basketball history. St. John's earliest start to the season was Nov. 9, 2006.
Overall, St. John's is 1-0 on Nov. 12.

10th season For KBA
Kim Barnes Arico is in her 10th year at the helm of the St. John's women's basketball program. In what has become one of the more remarkable turnarounds in the BIG EAST and the nation, she has catapulted the Red Storm onto the national scene, leading the program to three NCAA Tournament berths (2006, 2010, 2011), including back-to-back second round appearances in the past two seasons.
She has led St. John's to six postseason appearances and eight-straight From 2009-2011, the Red Storm was ranked for 16-straight weeks in the Associated Press Poll, including the first-ever preseason ranking in 2010-11. St. John's was also ranked for 18-consecutive weeks in the ESPN Coaches Poll.
Barnes Arico boasts four 20-win seasons as the second-longest tenured coach in St. John's women's basketball program history.
She currently has 152 wins as St. John's head coach; she is 17 wins away from becoming St. John's all-time wins record holder.

New York State of Mind
The Red Storm went 4-0 against opponents from New York in 2010-11. St. John's defeated both Manhattan (Nov. 16) and Columbia (Nov. 19) at Carnesecca Arena, Marist on the road at Kansas State (Nov. 14) and St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. (Nov. 29). STJ defeated teams from the Empire State, 261-186 (+18.75 avg. margin of victory).

Cracking The Top 10
At the start of the 2011-12 season, senior Da'Shena Stevensis 39 points from becoming one of the 10 top scorers in STJ history. Already a 1,000-point scorer, and No. 6 on the all-time rebounding list (673), Stevens will be on the hunt to move consistently up the all-time scoring chart in her final year with the Red Storm.

Catching Up With The Class of `13
Junior Shenneika Smith and her three classmates were part of St. John's history Top 10 recruiting class. The foursome are now upperclassman and are ready to lead the Red Storm to its third-straight NCAA Tournament berth.
Smith returns as STJ's leading scorer, marking 12.2 points per game in 2010-11. Junior point guard Nadirah McKenith returns to the starting line up with guard Eugeneia McPherson and Jennifer Blanding set to play increased time.
McPherson was fifth on the squad in scoring last season with 8.3 ppg. McPherson was the spark off the bench as the unofficial "sixth man" but she will most likely start in 2011-12.

Barnes Arico -- Coach, Mother, Marathoner
On Nov. 6, head coach Kim Barnes Arico fulfilled a lifelong dream -- completing the ING New York City Marathon. Barnes Arico as well as St. John's softball coach Amy Kvilhaug, ran and completed the 26.2 miles of cross-borough racing. Men's basketball assistant coach Mike Dunlaphelped Barnes Arico along the way, running more than 10 miles with her en route to Central Park.

STJ Inks Two During Early Signing Period
On Wednesday, Nov. 9 the early signing week began for winter and spring sports. On the first day of signing, the Red Storm landed to guards to its future Class of 2016.
Ashley Perez and Cedrica Gibson signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday and will take to the hardwood for STJ next season.
Perez comes from Manchester High in Manchester, Conn., where she will start her senior season as the all-time leading scorer with 1,436 points. A 3-point shooter, Perez is a three-time CCC North Division All-Conference honoree (2008-11) a two-time CIAC (Connecticut Association of Schools) Class LL All-State guard.
Gibson, out of Greensboro, N.C., spent her junior season at Oak Ridge Military Academy. A notable point guard in the Southeast, Gibson was noted for her ball handling skills as well as her ability to shoot the long ball. Gibson led Oak Ridge in scoring with 11.6 points, 7.2 assists per game in 2010-11. She will spend her senior year at Thomasville Prep in High Point, N.C.

Stevens Scoring On And Off The Court
Senior forward Da'Shena Stevens was selected as one of 30 candidates eligible for the 2011 LowesÂ® Senior CLASS Award as announced by officials on Nov. 4.
Including Stevens, the BIG EAST had four teams represented on the candidate list with Keisha Hampton from DePaul, Natalie Novosel from Notre Dame and Monique Reid from Louisville. Also on the list of 30 is four student-athletes from St. John's 2011-12 opponents Brogan Berry (Harvard), Brittany Carter (Memphis), Adaora Elonu (Texas A&M) and Kristen McCarthy (Temple).
The last time St. John's had a LowesÂ® Senior CLASS Award candidate was during the 2009-10 season when Joy McCorvey was selected to the top 30.
Midway through the season, this initial list of 30 will be narrowed down to 10 top finalists.

Up Next
St. John's continues with a two-game Atlantic 10 home stand as the Red Storm welcomes La Salle to Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Wednesday's tip off is slated for 7 p.m.