St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Women's Basketball Releases 2011-12 Schedule
8/31/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Aug. 31, 2011
2011-12 Women's Basketball Printable Schedule (PDF)
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B IG EAST Announces 2011-12 Women's Basketball Schedule & TV Appearances
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's women's basketball team announced its 2011-12 schedule on Tuesday, coinciding with the release of the 96-game BIG EAST Conference composite television schedule. The Red Storm's schedule consists of 13 potential games against last season's NCAA Tournament teams; 16 teams that made the postseason in 2011, 16 home contests, five nationally televised broadcast, an appearance in the sixth annual Maggie Dixon Classic and a home-and-home series against Rutgers.
The schedule includes contests against six 2011 Sweet 16 opponents, three Elite Eight competitors, two Final Four teams, national championship runner-up Notre Dame and a possible match up against the defending national champions, Texas A&M.
The Red Storm, who in 2011 returned to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the tournament's second round for the second-straight season, will open its season playing three of its first four games at home. St. John's season- and home-opener will be on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. in Carnesecca Arena against St. Bonaventure, a 2011 postseason WNIT contender. Last season, the Bonnies and Red Storm met for the first time, with St. John's getting the better of its northwestern New York foe, 55-44 on Nov. 29. St. Bonaventure advanced to the second round of the 2011 postseason WNIT, defeating Lehigh before being knocked out by Syracuse.
St. John's will stay at home against La Salle on Wednesday, Nov. 16, playing La Salle for just the second time in the Red Storm's 37-year history. The Red Storm and Explorers will meet in a 7 p.m. contest at Carnesecca Arena, a first time visit for La Salle. The only other time the two squads played each other was on Dec. 30, 2001, in Philadelphia with the Explorers winning, 57-53.
In mid-November, St. John's won't have to travel far for its first road trip of the season. On Friday, Nov. 18, St. John's will travel to Hempstead, N.Y., to face Hofstra in a 7 p.m. contest, renewing a 15-year local rivalry that had been on hiatus since 2005. The Red Storm holds a 14-1 advantage over its neighbors to the east with the Pride's only win coming on Dec. 23, 2001. Hofstra's last visit to Carnesecca was on Dec. 1, 2004.
Back at home, St. John's will host another local opponent in Wagner on Tuesday, Nov. 22 in a 6 p.m. match up. It will be the first time the Red Storm will play the Seahawks during head coach Kim Barnes Arico'snine-year tenure as St. John's head coach, as the teams have not met since on Dec. 11, 1999.
Instead of braving the cold weather in New York for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Red Storm will travel to the Bahamas Islands to participate in the 2011 Junkanoo Jam in Freeport on Grand Bahamas Island. Included in St. John's bracket are three fellow 2011 NCAA Tournament competitors in Texas A&M, the defending national champion, Iowa and Temple. In the first-ever meeting between the two squads, St. John's will play Iowa on Friday, Nov. 25, before facing the winner of the Texas A&M and Temple contest on Nov. 26. Times and arenas are yet to be determined.
Returning from the Caribbean, St. John's will host Howard and Hartford on Wednesday, Nov. 30 and Sunday, Dec. 4 at Carnesecca Arena. The Red Storm and Bison will tip off at 7 p.m. for a midweek match up, while the weekend game between the Red Storm and Hawks will start at 1 p.m.
St. John's will play its first BIG EAST game of the season on the road at DePaul at the McGrath-Phillips Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. The Blue Devils advanced to the women's basketball Sweet 16 in 2011, before losing to Duke, 70-63.
The Red Storm will be live in homes across the United States for the first time this season on Sunday, Dec. 11 as part of the sixth annual Maggie Dixon Classic, the nation's premier women's basketball doubleheader. St. John's will play perennial powerhouse, Baylor in the 11 a.m. slot, which will be aired on ESPNU, followed by a match up between DePaul and Tennessee at 1 p.m. St. John's and Baylor, a 2011 Elite Eight team, last met on Dec. 6, 2008, with the Red Storm traveling to Waco, Texas in a closely matched 75-65 loss.
In mid-December, St. John's will host the fourth annual Chartwells Holiday Classic featuring Prairie View, Louisiana Tech and Memphis, Dec. 17-18. The Red Storm will open the tournament against the winner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Prairie View at 1 p.m. on Saturday. La Tech and Memphis will follow at 3 p.m. On Sunday, there will be a losers bracket game at noon, followed by the winners game at 2 p.m. The meeting between Prairie View and St. John's is a first, while the Red Storm is 0-1 against La Tech and 1-1 against Memphis, who was awarded a postseason WNIT berth in 2011.
St. John's will close out 2011 with a road game at Harvard on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m., and a home contest on Saturday, Dec. 31, ringing in the new year against the Boston University Terriers (3 p.m.).
The heart of BIG EAST play begins at home against Providence on Wednesday, Jan. 4 in a 7 p.m. contest, the first of five home matches in January. The Red Storm will finish its two-game homestand hosting Louisville on Sunday, Jan. 8, as the first nationally televised conference contest of the year (ESPNU). Last season, the Red Storm and Cardinals played each other as part of the BIG EAST-CBS College Sports Network Game of the Week.
On Jan. 8, St. John's will travel upstate to in-state conference rival Syracuse for a mid-week match up at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
Traveling back to the metropolitan area, the Red Storm will host another two-game home set that features two NCAA Tournament teams in Marquette on Sunday, Jan. 15 at Madison Square Garden, which follows the men's game vs. Georgetown; and Rutgers on Tuesday, Jan. 17, which will air on CBS College Sports Network as part of the BIG EAST-CBSSN Game of the Week package. Game time between the Red Storm and Scarlet Knights is scheduled for 7 p.m.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, St. John's will travel to Cincinnati, before returning home to play Notre Dame, a 2011 NCAA Championship finalist on Saturday, Jan. 28 in a noon contest that will be aired regionally on SportsNet New York through the BIG EAST TV package.
The Red Storm will close out January on the road at Pittsburgh with a 7 p.m. contest on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at the Petersen Events Center. Traveling back toward the metropolitan area, St. John's faces Seton Hall in an afternoon weekend match up in South Orange, N.J. at Walsh Gym at 2 p.m.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, BIG EAST play continues as St. John's will host USF at Carnesecca Arena. Game time is yet to be announced.
St. John's will play Rutgers for the second time on Sunday, Feb. 12 as part of the rebranded Play 4K ESPN2 event. The Red Storm and Scarlet Knights tip off at 5 p.m. The Play 4K was previously called the WBCA Pink Zone. Four days later, St. John's will stay on the road, playing another national power in Connecticut on Saturday, Feb. 18 -- both game time and arena will be announced at a later date. The Huskies advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four, but was taken down by fellow BIG EAST school, Notre Dame, 72-63.
The Red Storm will host West Virginia and Villanova in its final home stand of the season. The game between St. John's and the Mountaineers will be aired on the CBS Sports Network as the Red Storm's second BIG EAST-CBSSN Network Game of the Week. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
Senior Day for forwards Da'Shena Stevens and Tesia Harris, is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 25 against Villanova. Stevens has been nationally recognized as a player to watch and has garnered All-BIG EAST awards in all three of her seasons, including the coveted BIG EAST Rookie of the Year award in 2009. Harris will be playing her first season for the Red Storm in 2011-12, after sitting out last year due to NCAA transfer rules. Harris had a standout three-year career with the Delaware Blue Hens.
St. John's will close out the regular season at Georgetown on Monday, Feb. 27 in a 4 p.m. match up at the McDonough Arena. Georgetown advanced to the 2011 Sweet 16, but were stopped by fellow BIG EAST opponent, Connecticut, 75-40.
Now entering Barnes Arico's 10th season as the head coach of the Red Storm, St. John's will continue to ride the successes of its previous years. In 2010-11 the St. John's women's basketball squad returned to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Round of 32 for the second-consecutive season, and was ranked for 16-straight weeks in the Associated Press Poll and 18-consecutive weeks in the ESPN/Coaches Poll (including the 2009-10 season). The Red Storm celebrated its second-straight 20-win season and fourth of Barnes Arico's tenure.
The excitement showed as St. John's had the 15th-largest increase in attendance per game in the nation in 2010-11. The Red Storm has come a long way during the Barnes Arico Era, as she took over a team that was 3-24 and winless in BIG EAST play and restored life and energy into a nationally competitive team every year. Under Barnes Arico, the Red Storm has made the BIG EAST tournament eight-straight seasons and has qualified for a postseason berth six out of the last seven years, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Fans can visit the newRedStormTix.com to download a season ticket order form, or request to be contacted. Packages are just $75 for general admission seating. To order season tickets by phone, call 1-888-GO-STORM (467-8676). Women's basketball home games at Madison Square Garden are ticketed as doubleheaders with men's basketball and are subject to men's basketball pricing. Tickets for the Maggie Dixon Classic will be available through thegarden.com starting in October, and are not included in the regular season ticket packages. Fans can join the Red White Club by visiting RedStormSports.com and clicking on the link to "Giving" to visit the all-new Red White website.
Check the Women's Basketball Blog for updates, previews, postgame interviews and short video features. For twitter updates, follow @stj_wbasketball and search the hashtag #stjwbb.
To be added to the St. John's women's basketball fans e-mail list, please e-mail duffyk@stjohns.edu with the subject line "Women's Basketball E-Mail Fan."
