St. John's Hosts Providence In BIG EAST Home-Opener

1/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Jan. 3, 2012

GAME INFO
Jan. 4, 2012
St. John's (8-6, 0-1 BIG EAST) vs. Providence (8-6, 0-1 BIG EAST)
Carnesecca Arena (5,602)

QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's women's basketball (8-6, 0-1 BIG EAST) will look to defend its seven-game undefeated streak at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday as the Red Storm hosts the Providence Friars (8-6, 0-1 BIG EAST) in a 7 p.m. tip off for the 2011-12 BIG EAST home-opener. Wednesday's game against Providence is the second in a three-game home stand for the Red Storm.

Wednesday's Tip Off Quick Hits
Wednesday's contest will be aired live via an STJ-TV broadcast on StormTracker All-Access via RedStormSports.com. Follow all the action from Carnesecca Arena as Greg Rice and Stephan Florival call the game courtside. Red Storm fans can also follow GameTracker stats and live twitter updates via @stj_wbasketball. Join the conversation with the hashtag #stjwbb.
The Red Storm's BIG EAST home-opener marks the 57th meeting between the two Catholic school rivals with St. John's holding a four game lead in the all-time series record, 30-26. Providence is St. John's second-most played opponent in Red storm history. With 56 games played, the series between St. John's and Providence is second only to the series between St. John's and Seton all, which totals 60 games played. Including Providence and Seton Hall, St. John's has met three other teams more than 50 times with Syracuse (53 games), Connecticut (53 games) and Villanova (51 games).
St. John's is 3-2 in its last five games, most recently defeating Boston University on New Year's Eve day, 75-38. The Red Storm had four players score in double-figures, the first time this season. Red Storm junior guard Eugeneia McPherson tallied her ninth-straight double-digit scoring effort of the season. For the first time this season, the Red Storm had a fully healthy roster and had both Nadirah McKenith and Da'Shena Stevens in the starting five.
Red Storm junior guard Shenneika Smith is 15 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point plateau, joining teammate Da'Shena Stevens as part of this elite group. After her 15-point performance against Boston University (Dec. 31), Smith has 985 career points and is on track to becoming the 18th 1,000-point scorer in St. John's women's basketball history and fifth under head coach Kim Barnes Arico.
10th-year head coach Barnes Arico is also nearing a milestone of her own as she is nine wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in St. John's women's basketball history. Entering Wednesday's game, Barnes Arico has recorded 160 wins. Joe Mullaney Jr. (12 seasons - 1984-1996) holds the wins record with 168.

Red Storm vs. Friars
In a series dating back to the 1977-1978 season, Saturday's meeting is the 57th meeting between the two BIG EAST squads.
St. John's holds a four-game advantage over Providence in the all-time series record, 30-26, and has won the last four meetings between the two teams.
St. John's won the first meeting, 43-42 on Jan. 8, 1978 in Providence. Providence won the following year, 61-56, in a neutral site game on Dec. 10, 1978 at the Southern Connecticut Tournament in New Haven, Conn.
The squads first BIG EAST meeting was on Feb. 19, 1983 at Alumni Hall, now known as Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y. Providence won the first league battle, 69-55.
In BIG EAST regular season play, St. John's leads the all-time record by two games, 23-21 and is 3-1 over Providence in the BIG EAST Tournament.
In the past 11 regular season meetings, St. John's is 9-2 over Providence.
The last time the two teams met in the postseason was on March 7, 1992 in the BIG EAST Tournament at Gampel Pavilion. Providence won 67-66 in the Quarterfinals.
At Alumni Hall/Mullaney Gymnasium, the Red Storm is 15-10 overall. As the home team, St. John's is 14-13 overall.

Coaching Match Up
10th-year head coach Kim Barnes Arico is 160-130 (.552) at St. John's. She is 254-202 (.557) overall as head coach. Barnes Arico has led St. John's to an 9-1 record over Providence College during her tenure. Her first win over PC was on Jan. 22, 2003, 67-62, at Alumni Hall in Providence, R.I.
In his seventh year as head coach of Providence College, Phil Seymore is 83-109 overall.
Barnes Arico is 5-1 over Seymore in head-to-head battles as BIG EAST rivals. Seymore's lone win was on Feb. 10, 2007 with a 93-77 victory over St. John's at Carnesecca Arena.
Providence's associate head coach, Jonath Nicholls was a former assistant under Barnes Arico prior to his current position with the Friars.

When Last They Met
In 2010-11, St. John's traveled to Alumni Hall to face Providence on Jan. 29, 2011.
Playing most of the game in foul trouble, then-junior forward Da'Shena Stevens shot her way to 22 points on nine field goals, helping STJ to a 69-53 victory over the Friars.
STJ shot 50.0 percent from the floor, 58.2 percent in the second half for the Red Storm's third-best shooting performance of the season.
Nadirah McKenith had 11 rebounds, adding six assists, two steals and four points.
St. John's led the whole time, but Providence surmounted a comeback midway through the game to give St. John's a scare. The Friars pulled within one, 28-27, in the opening plya o fthe second half, but St. John's used a 10-1, five-minute run to take a 44-31 lead with 12 minutes left.
St. John's scored 36 points in the paint, opposed to the Friars' 18.
STJ shot 15-of-19 from the foul line.

Last Time At Carnesecca
The last time Providence traveled to Carnesecca Arena was on Jan. 30, 2010 with the Red Storm defeating the Friars, 70-46. It was the fifth time in 2009-10 that STJ held an opponent to under 50 points.
The 24-point margin of victory was the largest over a BIG EAST opponent last season.
Then-senior Joy McCorvey had 12 points and 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Eugeneia McPherson added 12 points as well.
Seven STJ players scored six points or more, and six players grabbed four or more rebounds.
The Red Storm outscored the Friars 30-16 in the paint.
Providence shot just 26.2 percent from the field and Mi-Khida Hankins was the lone double-digit scorer for PC with 15 points.
At halftime, STJ led 36-24.

Scouting Providence
Providence has the exact same record as St. John's going into Wednesday's game (8-6, 0-1 BIG EAST), but the Friars are riding a three-game win streak and have won eight of its last 11 games after staring the season with three-straight losses. Those losses came at the hands of Boston U, Virginia and Rhode Island.
The Friars' first BIG EAST loss of the season came against Villanova in Providence on Dec. 7. Providence lost to Villanova, 69-42.
The Friars have two players averaging in double figures led by redshirt senior Teya Wright with 14.9 points per game. Wright also averages a double-double with 10.9 rebounds per game. Senior Rachel Barnes adds 11.6 ppg to the mix.
Providence has had four players score in double figures three times this season and are undefeated at 3-0 when this occurs.
The Friars are 3-3 on the road this season and 1-2 when playing on a Wednesday.

Common Ground
St. John's and Providence have three common non-conference opponents in Boston University, Hartford and Harvard.
Providence defeated Harvard, 71-60 (Nov. 18), but lost to Boston University, 65-62 (Nov. 11) in the season-opener.
On the contrary, St. John's defeated Boston, 75-38 (Dec. 31) but lost to Harvard, 63-56 (Dec. 22).
Both Providence and St. John's defeated Hartford. The Friars won 63-46 (Dec. 31); while the Red Storm defeated Hartford, 70-45 (Dec. 4).

Postgame Notes: Boston University - STJ 75, BU 38
St. John's finished the game with four double-figure scorers as Eugeneia McPherson and Shenneika Smith led the way with 15 points apiece. The junior duo was joined in double-digits by Mary Nwachukwu (11 points) and Amber Thompson (10 points).
The last time the Red Storm registered four double-digit scoring performances was against USF on Feb. 16, 2011. The team accomplished the feat six times in 2010-11 and compiled a 4-2 record in those games.
The game against Boston University was the first time all season that senior Da'Shena Stevens and junior Nadirah McKenith both were in the Red Storm starting lineup and on the court together. It was Stevens first start of the season after missing the first 10 games with a knee injury and McKenith made her return after injuring her knee against Baylor on Dec. 11.
The Red Storm held the Terriers to 14 points in the opening period. It matched St. John's best first-half defensive effort of the season when they held La Salle to 14 first-half points on Nov. 16, 2011.
St. John's has now held three opponents to under 20 first-half points including the game against La Salle and a 16-point effort against Wagner on Nov. 22, 2011.
The Red Storm forced 19 turnovers and forced the Terriers to shoot 28.8 percent.
It was the third time this year that STJ shot better than 60 percent from the field in the first half (61.5 percent).
St. John's scored 40 points in the first half for the third time this season and is now 2-1 on the season when doing so.
The 37-point margin of victory was the largest for STJ since a 31-point triumph over Southern Mississippi on Dec. 18, 2010.

Up Next
St. John's will play its third-straight home game on Sunday, Jan. 8 as the Red Storm hosts No. 14/12 Louisville in its first national television broadcast of the season. The Red Storm and Cardinals tip off at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNU.