St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
17-8, 8-6
DePaul
20-7, 12-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 20 | 35 | 55 |
| DePaul | 38 | 44 | 82 |
DePaul Downs St. John's, 82-55
2/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHICAGO - Danaejah Grant led the Red Storm with 22 points and 11 rebounds to register her third double-double of the season, but DePaul tallied 11 three-pointers en route to an 82-55 win over St. John's on Sunday afternoon.
"I'm obviously disappointed by our effort against one of the top teams in our league," said Head Coach Joe Tartamella. "I don't think we executed as well as we needed to on either end of the floor. We will take the positives from this game and focus on closing out the BIG EAST regular season on a strong note."
Senior forward Amber Thompson, the BIG EAST's leading rebounder, grabbed 10 boards, scored five points and dished out a pair of assists on Sunday. The Newark, N.J., native is now just five rebounds shy of becoming the first player in St. John's history to reach 1,000 for her career.
Jade Walker converted on four of her six attempts from the floor for 11 points.
Aliyyah Handford narrowly missed double figures for the Red Storm, recording nine points. The loss marked just the third time all season that Handford failed to reach double figures.
DePaul got off to a hot start from the floor, converting on its first three shot attempts and taking a 7-2 lead less than three minutes into the contest.
The Red Storm pulled within one, 9-8, on three straight points from Handford less than two minutes later. From there, a Hrynko three-pointer sparked an elongated 18-1 run for the Blue Demons, as DePaul led 27-9 near the eight-minute mark of the opening half. The Red Storm went over eight minutes without of field goal during that stretch.
After trailing by as many as 20, 31-11, the Red Storm uncorked an 8-0 run, trimming the deficit to 12 with just over three minutes remaining until the intermission.
Over the closing minutes of the half, the Blue Demons built their lead back to 18, carrying a 38-20 advantage into the locker room.
Out of the break, Walker sank two free throws and hit a baseline jumper, narrowing the deficit to 14, 38-24, in the first minute of the latter stanza.
After battling for several minutes, the Red Storm whittled the DePaul lead down to 12, 48-36, on a Grant three-point play with 11:38 to go. DePaul would build its lead back to as many as 15 in the ensuing minutes, but Handford and Imani Little combined for four unanswered to get it down to 11, 53-42, at the eight-minute media timeout.
With their lead at its smallest margin of the latter half, DePaul responded by scoring 12 unanswered, building its advantage to 23, 65-42, with just over six minutes to go. Overall, the Blue Demons outscored the Red Storm 21-3 by the 2:56 mark of the half.
The Red Storm will return to action on Friday, Feb. 20, hosting Villanova in its annual Play4Kay game, benefitting the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
