St. John's University Athletics
McKenith, Smith And Stevens Voted To WBCA All-Region Team
3/29/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 29, 2012
QUEENS, N.Y. - A trio of St. John's women's basketball players were honored as All-Region I selections as announced by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Senior forward Da'Shena Stevens and juniors Nadirah McKenith and Shenneika Smithare three of 40 finalists who are in the running for selection to the 10-member WBCA Division I Coaches' All-America Team.
The 10-member 2012 WBCA Division I Coaches' All-America Team will be chosen from the list of 40 finalists and announced on Saturday, March 31, during the NCAA's Super Saturday festivities at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Stevens, McKenith and Smith join eight other student-athletes from fellow BIG EAST schools on the Region I list, which include three from Notre Dame, two from Connecticut, Sugar Rodgers from Georgetown, Anna Martin from DePaul and Shoni Schimmel from Louisville. Shey Peddy from Temple also made the All-Region list.
Stevens, who was a Regional Finalist as a sophomore in 2010, won the BIG EAST's Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and Sportsmanship Award preceding the 2012 BIG EAST Tournament. She was also named to the BIG EAST second team, her third time on the conference's postseason lists. Stevens sat out the first 10 games of the season rehabilitating an offseason knee injury.
After Stevens' returned to the court, the Red Storm went 19-5 with six wins over top 25 adversaries. After her return to the starting line up, St. John's boasted a 17-4 record. During St. John's nine-game winning streak, Stevens was the team's leading scorer averaging 14.7 points per game, shooting 48.9 percent from the floor, 77.2 percent (44-of-57) from the free throw line with a team-best 6.6 rebounds per game.
Stevens finished her illustrious career in six of St. John's top five record lists. In addition to being fifth all-time in scoring, she is No. 3 in rebounds (815), No. 4 in field goals made (579), No. 2 in free throws (354) and No. 5 in field goal attempts (1,305). She also is the career leader in free throw attempts (623). She had her best year at the free throw line in 2011-12 as she shot 71 percent.
Stevens helped catapult the Red Storm to back-to-back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. She is St. John's most decorated student-athlete as she began her career as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and ended it as the BIG EAS Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned the league's Sportsmanship award. She was twice named to the WBCA's Region I All-American team, was a Lowe's® Senior CLASS Award Nominee, three-time Preseason All-BIG EAST selection and three-time All-BIG EAST honoree. As a sophomore, Stevens was an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American. For three-straight years she was a member of the Naismith Trophy Early-Season watch list. Stevens was also a three-time first team All-Met selection and the 2010 Metropolitan Player of the Year.
McKenith, the Red Storm's floor general, is the vocal leader on the court and played an integral role in St. John's success illustrated by her being named to the All-BIG EAST second team and the BIG EAST Player of the Week (Feb. 20). She scored a team-best 15 points to go along with seven assists in St. John's national-headline grabbing victory at then-No. 2 Connecticut with just two turnovers that night. McKenith finished the season with an average of 12. 1 points per game for St. John's, the second-highest on the team. In the last five games of the regular season, McKenith led the team in scoring averaging 16.0 ppg.
  | |
Prior to NCAA Tournament play, the Newark, N.J., native ranked 48th nationally in assists per game in the Division I statistical rankings. Earlier this season, she was named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year award Buzz List for the third-straight time. During BIG EAST conference play, McKenith ranked No. 4 in assists per game (4.6), steals (2.3), assist to turnover ratio (1.3), No. 11 in free throw percentage (.790), No. 12 in defensive rebounds (4.2), No. 20 in rebounding (5.8) and No. 27 in scoring.
McKenith has scored in double figures 19 times this season and has had seven or more assists in eight games, including a 10-assist effort at Pittsburgh for her first double-double of the season with 10 points (Jan. 31). McKenith ranks No. 5 in St. John's all-time assists with 440 and No. 6 in steals with 214.
McKenith had 21 points and the game-wining layup to lead the Red Storm to a 69-67 victory over Creighton in the NCAA Tournament's first round.
Smith was named to the All-BIG EAST first team and was a member of the BIG EAST All-Tournament team, St. John's first selection since 1988. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native scored a season-best 24 points against then-No. 20/17 Louisville during the March 4 BIG EAST Quarterfinals, leading St. John's to its first Semifinal game since 1988.
 | |
During the 2011-12 season, Smith was a two-time selection to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll (Jan. 9 and Jan. 16) as well as a member of the 2011 Junkanoo Jam and St. John's-Chartwells All-Tournament squads. She finished the season as the Red Storm's leading scorer (12.5 ppg) and rebounder (6.4 rpg). She led St. John's in scoring 12 times during the season as the Red Storm went 9-3 with Smith as the leading scorer.
Smith was a defensive leader on the court for the Red Storm, helping hold Connecticut's Tiffany Hayes to just eight points (3-for-7 from the field) in the teams' regular season meeting on Feb. 18. Hayes had been previously averaging 15.0 ppg. After her defensive efforts paid off, she put the icing on the cake with her game-winning 3-pointer to defeat the Huskies, 57-56 and end UConn's 99-game winning streak.
She also held Rutgers' April Sykes to just 2-for-13 from the field and Louisville's Schimmel to just eight points (4-for-18 from the field, 0-for-7 from the 3-point range). Smith had a career-high 21 rebounds against Iowa (Nov. 25) in the Junkanoo Jam.
Smith is currently No. 12 in St. John's all-time scoring list with 1,242.
