St. John's Travels To Cincinnati For Saturday Matinee

1/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Jan. 20, 2012

GAME INFO
St. John's at Cincinnati
Jan. 21, 2012 at 2 p.m. (ET)
Fifth Third Arena (13,176)

CINCINNATI, Ohio - St. John's will take to the road this weekend to play just its third conference game away from home this season. The Red Storm will face the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday, Jan. 21. Tip off is slated for 2 p.m.

Saturday's Quick Hits
Saturday's contest will be broadcast via CatsVision All-Access on GoBearcats.com. CBS College Sports subscribers can access the live web stream with their StormTracker All-Access account.
Red Storm fans can also follow live stats on RedStormSports.com or live twitter updates via @stj_wbasketball. Join the conversation with the hashtag #stjwbb.
The Red Storm (12-7, 4-2 BIG EAST) are riding high after Tuesday's 62-57 upset over No. 7/8 Rutgers. So far in 2011-12, St. John's has defeated two ranked teams on its home court with the Scarlet Knights and then-No. 14/12 Louisville on Jan. 8. Overall, St. John's is 1-2 against opponents from the top 25.
Since returning a fully healthy roster on Dec. 31, the Red Storm has won five of its last six games. St. John's is 7-2 with senior forward Da'Shena Stevens back from her early-season injury.
Cincinnati (9-9, 0-5) will have a quick turnaround with Saturday's matinee against St. John's. The Bearcats played a 7 p.m. game in Storrs, Conn. against the No. 3 Huskies on Thursday and will have a two-day turnaround to rebound from its 80-37 loss. The Bearcats have yet to win a gamein conference play, and has not won a game since Dec. 29.
Saturday's game is the seventh meeting between the Red Storm and Bearcats. Cincinnati joined the BIG EAST during the 2005-06 season from Conference USA. St. John's leads the all-time series against Cincinnati, 5-1, with its only loss on Jan. 10, 2010, 70-60 at Fifth Third Arena.
Against Rutgers on Tuesday, junior Eugeneia McPhersonhad her 14-straight double-digit scoring performances and continues to lead St. John's in scoring with 14.4 points per game.

Recent Awards
On Monday, junior Shenneika Smithgrabbed her second-straight BIG EAST weekly award as she was named to the league honor roll (Jan. 16).

Five Wins Away
10th-year head coach Kim Barnes Aricodraws nearer to yet another milestone as she is five wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in St. John's women's basketball history. After Tuesday's win over Rutgers, Barnes Arico has recorded 164 wins. Former STJ head coach Joe Mullaney Jr. (12 seasons - 1984-1996) holds the wins record with 168.

Red Storm vs. Bearcats
St. John's leads the all-time series, 5-1.
Since their first meeting, St. John's is 2-1 at Cincinnati and 3-0 in Queens. The Red Storm and Bearcats first met at Fifth Third Arena on Jan. 18, 2006. St. Johns defeated Cincinnati 88-80.
The closest game between the teams came on March 1, 2008, again at Cincinnati. The game was decided by free throws in the final 10.4 seconds to play as St. John's won 49-47. The win helped St. John's clinch a spot in the 2008 BIG EAST Tournament. Only Monique McLean scored in double figures for St. John's, with 10 points. St. John's was behind 23-20 going into the halftime break. UC led 47-45 with just under two minutes to go in the game. STJ tied it up with Kia Wright getting a steal and a fast break jumper. Wright was fouled in the final 10 seconds to give STJ the win.
St. John's won last year's contest by a decisive 63-34 victory in Queens. The last time St. John's traveled to Cincinnati, the Bearcats got the 70-60 advantage.

Coaching Match Up
10th-year head coach Kim Barnes Arico is 164-131 (.556) at St. John's and is five games away from coaching her 300th game on the Red Storm sidelines. She is 258-203 (.560) overall as head coach.
In her third season coaching on the Cincinnati sidelines, head coach Jamelle Elliott boasts a 30-47 (.390) school record. Elliott's Bearcats coaching stint is her first as a head coach.
Barnes Arico won the last meeting head-to-head, 74-34 (Jan. 18, 2011) at Carnesecca Arena. Barnes Arico registered her first win over Cincinnati in the teams' first-ever meeting, 88-80 on Jan. 18, 2006.

When Last They Met
The then-No. 22 Red Storm defeated the Bearcats 74-34 at Carnesecca Arena in the inaugural field trip day.
St. John's held Cincinnati to just three field goals in the first half, a season-low.
St. John's went on a 20-1 run in the first half to jump ahead 30-11. The Bearcats were held without a field goal for a total of 10:30, which included the final 9:28 of the first half, going into the second period.
Three Red Storm players scored in double figures including a game-high 14 points from both Da'Shena Stevens and Shenneika Smith. Then-senior Sky Lindsay added 11.
St. John's led by as many as 32 points after a layup from Eugeneia McPherson with 22 seconds left in the game.

Scouting Cincinnati
Cincinnati is still on the hunt for its first BIG EAST win after losing the last four games to conference foes. The Bearcats have come close, playing USF to a three-point loss, 58-55 (Jan. 3) and Rutgers to just an 11-point deficit (Jan. 7). On Dec. 14, the Bearcats played Louisville at home and lost by just five, 64-59.
The Bearcats won its first six games to open the season. Cincinnati's first loss came at the hands of its Cincinnati-neighbor Xavier, 69-60 (Dec. 4). From there, the Bearcats lost its next five games before defeating Virginia Tech, 66-55 on Dec. 28.
The Bearcats will be looking to rebound off its latest loss at UConn, 80-37 (Jan. 19). Dayeesha Hollins scored a game-high 18 points for Cincinnati and the Bearcats defense limited the Huskies' leading scorer Bria Hartley to just six points. Cincinnati led Connecticut in fast break points, 13-2.
The Bearcats played three-straight top 10 BIG EAST opponents in a row.
Cincinnati is led in scoring by Hollins who averages 14.8 points per game overall. Tiffany Turner leads the Bearcats' battle on the boards with a 7.1 rebounds per game average.

Movin' On Up
In the daily RPI ranking on RealTimeRPI.com, the Red Storm moved up from 16th to 12th in strength of schedule.

Red Storm Top Play
Nadirah McKenith'simprobable off balance lay up against then-No. 7/8 Rutgers (Jan. 17) was featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 plays of the day. Starting at No. 9, by the mid-day hour McKenith's game-changing layup moved up to No. 5.

Postgame Notes: Rutgers
STJ 62, RU 57
St. John's had its second upset of the season on Wednesday as the Red Storm defeated its regional neighbors, Rutgers, 62-57. The Scarlet Knights were ranked No. 7/8.
Rutgers had a six-point halftime lead, 26-20, but St. John's was the dominant presence in the second half and outscored Rutgers 42-31.
St. John's was 26-of-32 from the foul line, including making 14-of-16 over the final 4.5 minutes.
The Red Storm junior class led the way in scoring with Eugeneia McPherson netting a game-best 17 points, Nadirah McKenith adding 15 and Shenneika Smith helping with 14.
The win was St. John's third in a row over Rutgers and St. John's fifth win in six games.
St. John's led for the final 11 minutes after McKenith hit a game-changing over the back lay up as time expired on the shot clock.
Rutgers had cut the lead to one, 58-57, with 18.8 seconds left, but McKenith and Smith hit four free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
St. John's outscored Rutgers 20-8 off turnovers, 13-0 in the second half.
The Red Storm only committed nine turnovers, a second-best performance this season. St. John's only had eight against No. 1 Baylor.
St. John's advanced to 2-0 over ranked teams at Carnesecca Arena this season.

Up Next
St. John's will have a week hiatus before hosting No 2/2 Notre Dame on Saturday, Jan. 28. Tip off will be at noon on Sports Net NY as the battle between the Red Storm and Fighting Irish is the featured BIG EAST Game of the Week.
The Red Storm will be looking to protect the 10-game winning streak at Carnesecca Arena this season. St. Johns has knocked of two ranked opponents in No. 14/12 Louisville and No. 7/8 Rutgers.