St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
7-0, 1-0
USF
6-3
Red Storm Battles Back to Down USF, 55-52
12/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TAMPA, Fla. - Trailing at the intermission for the first time this season, Aliyyah Handford and Danaejah Grant combined for 28 of their team's 32 second-half points, helping the Red Storm erase a five-point halftime deficit and pick up a 55-52 resume-building road win at RV/RV South Florida to remain undefeated.
"That was a great basketball game by both teams," said Head Coach Joe Tartamella. "South Florida is a very good team that will see the postseason. This was a great road win for our team and I was very happy with our resiliency throughout the second half, especially when we needed to get stops on the defensive end."
This season marks the fifth time since the 2004-05 campaign that the Red Storm (7-0) has started a season with a record of 7-0 or better.
Handford scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the latter stanza, while Grant registered 11 of her 17 in the second half. Handford also tallied six rebounds and four steals against the Bulls.
Grant, who had hit just three of her 21 attempts from beyond the arc heading into Sunday, sank four of her five tries from deep, including a perfect 3-for-3 in the second half.
Amber Thompson, the sixth-leading rebounder in the nation, grabbed a game-high 16 boards in addition to scoring six points.
One of the top defenses in the nation, St. John's held USF to nearly 20 points below its season scoring average of 70.6.
The Bulls (6-3) found it tough to miss in the early going, connecting on four of their first six shots and jumping out to a 9-4 lead on a Courtney Williams layup just over three minutes into the game.
After allowing the Bulls to shoot at or above 50 percent from the floor in the opening minutes of the contest, the Red Storm defense went into lockdown mode. Forcing seven turnovers and 10-straight missed shots, the Red Storm held USF without a point for a whopping nine minutes and 40 seconds, peeling off a 13-3 run to take a 21-16 lead with 4:35 remaining until the break. Handford and Grant each scored six points on the tear.
Trailing by five, the Bulls fired off a 10-0 run in the waning minutes of the opening half, moving back ahead 26-21 with just under two minutes left in the half. Thompson would narrow the lead to three with her third field goal of the game, but USF converted from the floor with just one second left on the clock, heading into the locker room with a 28-23 advantage.
Down five at the break, the Red Storm outscored USF 6-2 in the opening minutes of the second stanza, trimming the deficit to one, 30-29, at the half's first media timeout.
A running layup from Ariadna Pujol put the Bulls back up by three less than a minute later, but Handford and Grant combined for four unanswered over the Red Storm's next two possessions to give St. John's its first lead of the half, 33-32, at the 14 minute mark.
The Bulls responded with four unanswered of their own to reclaim a three-point advantage, 36-33, but Handford made a tough shot through contact and sank the ensuing free throw, knotting the game at 36 with just under 12 to go.
The game took on the characteristic of a back-and-forth affair over the next several minutes before Handford and Grant combined to help St. John's take control. Trailing 39-38, the pair rattled off the Johnnies' next 10 points, helping the Red Storm moved ahead 48-44 with just over six minutes to go.
USF closed the gap to just one, 48-47, near the five minute mark before both squads went scoreless for over two minutes.
With just over three minutes remaining, Handford found Grant on the right side for her fourth triple of the game, putting the Red Storm back up by four, 51-47.
USF would narrow the lead to one on a Laura Ferreira three-pointer, but Handford responded with another bucket to increase the lead to three, 53-50, with just over two minutes to go.
Aaliyah Lewis sank a pair of clutch free throws to extend the advantage to five, 55-50, ninety second later, and the Red Storm warded off a late push from the Bulls to claim the hard-fought victory.
