St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
7-6
Harvard
5-5
Harvard Slips By St. John's, 63-56
12/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2011
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A Red Storm comeback fell just short in Cambridge as the St. John's women's basketball team was defeated by Harvard, 63-56 at Lavietes Pavilion on Thursday in the first-ever regular season meeting between teams.
With less than a minute left, St. John's had rallied to cut the deficit to one possession, 59-56, but the Crimson prevailed on their home court.
For St. John's (7-6), rookie Amber Thompson tallied her third-career double-double with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Junior guard Eugeneia McPherson led the Red Storm with a game-best 14 points, connecting on 3-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line. It was McPherson's eighth-consecutive double-digit scoring performance. Classmate Shenneika Smith also added 12 points to go along with seven rebounds, three blocks, three steals and an assist.
Red Storm senior Da'Shena Stevens led the team with five assists. The Crimson (5-5) had four players net 12 points each, Emma Golen, Victoria Lippert, Brogan Berry and Christine Clark.
The Red Storm scored first, as Smith put one away early as the ball hit nothing but the net. But Berry answered on the next possession and Harvard took the lead on the next play as the Crimson capitalized on a Red Storm turnover with Lippert sinking her first of two three's for the game.
Smith came right back at it as she hit her second shot of the contest, this time a long jumper going over the heads of the Harvard defense, St. John's cut it to one, 5-4.
Harvard used a 6-0 run to go ahead 14-4 and remained ahead by 10 over the next four minutes as the Crimson led 22-12 nine minutes into the game. With 6:16 left in the period Harvard continued to hold the lead, 27-16, but St. John's began to rally, sparked by a long jumper from sophomore Briana Brown. The Crimson missed the jumper on their next possession and Keylantra Langley grabbed the defensive board to give St. John's back the ball. McPherson cut Harvard's lead to seven, 27-20 with a jumper in the paint.
Capitalizing on another missed opportunity for Harvard, Langley once again grabbed the ball off the glass to give the Red Storm possession. Stevens set up McPherson on the arc, who sunk her first trey of the game as St. John's shrunk the deficit to four, 27-23. Coming back in off the bench, Brown sunk her first 3-pointer of the season as she was set up by Langley down by the left sideline with three seconds left on the shotclock. Brown's long ball bought the game to one, 27-26 with 3:05 left in the half.
Harvard had not scored a field goal since 8:05 in the half, but the Crimson answered Brown's three with one of their own as Lippert sank her second of the game, putting Harvard back up four, 31-26.
Smith came back with a jumper under the basket, putting in the shot off an offensive board from Thompson, St. John's trailed two, 30-28, with 1:52 left in the half.
Berry sunk a jumper and McPherson netted a free throw as St. John's went into the locker room down three, 32-29.
In the second half, Harvard grew their lead to 11 points, 52-41 with 7:17 on the clock.
The Red Storm began to rally cutting the deficit to four, 56-52 after a layup and one by Stevens with less than two minutes left to play.
A Red Storm foul sent Clark to the line for Harvard as she made both, widening the gap to six, 58-52. Thompson responded with a put back jumper under the hoop with 1:19 left on the clock as the lead was cut to four again, 58-54.
Another foul sent Miriam Rutzen to the line for the Crimson, she sunk one of two to keep Harvard ahead by two possessions, 59-54.
Smith came back with a jumper as the Red Storm brought back to one possession, 59-56 with 46 seconds left to play.
St. John's called a timeout and forced Harvard into a turnover on their possession, gaining the ball with 31 seconds left. Langley's three-point attempt didn't make it and the ball was turned over on the rebound.
With 21 seconds left, Harvard's Berry returned to the free throw line and sunk both shots to finish the Crimson's tally at 61. The Crimson had not scored a field goal since Missy Mullins' layup at 6:34.
After the holiday break, the Red Storm will be back in action and looking to rebound from Thursday's loss with its final non-conference contest against Boston University on Dec. 31. The Red Storm and Terriers will tip off at 3 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena on the final day of 2011.
