St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
15-7 (6-5BE)
Creighton
13-10 (6-6BE)
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creighton | 39 | 36 | 75 |
| St. John's | 21 | 29 | 50 |
St. John's Falls to Creighton, 75-50
2/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
QUEENS, N.Y. - Shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor in the first half and over 63 percent from three-point range on the game, Creighton jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on Friday night, downing St. John's 75-50 in Carnesecca Arena.
"Obviously this was a tough defeat for us," said Head Coach Joe Tartamella. "Our effort tonight was somewhat embarrassing. I thought we were flat. We had a little bit of a disjointed week, which hurt us, but we didn't give a good enough effort and didn't play very well together tonight. We have to figure a way to do a better job to motivate our players to be ready for games. We have to get out of this spot we're in right now and try to turn things around with a win on Sunday against Providence. We saw a few bright spots with some of our freshmen being able to score a little bit but overall we have to make better decisions as individuals and as a team. We'll figure out. We're going to get back to work and get ready for Sunday."
Freshman Crystal Simmons scored a career-high 11 points for the Red Storm, draining three of her five attempts from beyond the arc. The Madrid, Spain, native was the only St. John's player to finish in double figures.
Amber Thompson, the leading rebounder in program history, pulled down 10 boards and added nine points in the loss.
All five starters finished in double figures for the Bluejays, led by Alexis Akin-Otiko with 16.
The Bluejays came out firing, converting on eight of their first nine attempts from the floor, six of which came from beyond the arc, and jumping out to a 22-4 lead less than six minutes into the contest.
Creighton climbed ahead by as many as 21 near the midway mark of the first half, when Jade Owens made the team's seventh three-pointer of the period with 9:26 to go.
The Johnnies would narrow the deficit to 15, 32-17, with 5:28 remaining until the break, but Creighton bumped its lead back to 18, 39-21, at the intermission.
Creighton built its lead to 23, 44-21, in the opening minutes of the latter stanza, but the Red Storm responded with four in a row to move back within 19.
The Bluejays would move ahead by as many as 31, 62-31, near the midway mark of the half before Simmons nailed consecutive threes to move the Red Storm within 25.
The Red Storm would narrow the gap to 24, 73-49, on an Aaliyah Lewis three-pointer with less than four minutes to go, but that was as close as St. John's would get.
Lewis did not start and missed the entire first half due to disciplinary reasons. Friday marked the first game of the season that the Red Storm featured a starting lineup that differed from that of opening day against Yale on Nov. 15. Freshman Tamesha Alexander started in Lewis' place and scored six points on three-of-four shooting.
St. John's returns to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting Providence at 2 PM on ESPN3.
