St. John's University Athletics
St. John's to Host Creighton on Senior Day
2/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
QUEENS, N.Y. - The 2015-16 regular season will come to a close on Sunday afternoon, as St. John's welcomes Creighton to Carnesecca Arena for a 3 p.m. showdown on FS2.
QUICK HITS
The contest will mark the final appearance in Queens for a pair of Red Storm all-time greats: Aliyyah Handford and Danaejah Grant. St. John's will also honor Graduate Assistant Alysha Giarra and student managers Ryan Hopkins, Eric Crowder and David Adams in a pregame ceremony.
Handford had quite a memorable day on Friday, as the Newark, N.J., native became the program's all-time leading scorer with a 27-point effort against Providence. The 5-9 guard surpassed Ling Ling Hou for the most points in school history with her fifth point of the afternoon, the 1,951st of her St. John's career. Handford would go on to add 22 more by the end of the contest. In addition to ascending to the top spot on the all-time scoring list, she also moved into eighth place on the career rebounding ledger (687) and tied Debbie Beckford for third on the all-time steals list with the 255th swipe of her St. John's tenure. Handford is now just 27 points away from becoming only the fourth player in the history of St. John's Basketball, men's or women's, to reach the 2,000-point plateau. She would join some pretty elite company in Chris Mullin, Malik Sealy and D'Angelo Harrison.
Despite Friday being just the 87th game of her St. John's career, Grant cracked the top 10 on the St. John's all-time scoring list with a 27-point outburst against the Friars. The leading scorer in the BIG EAST this season at 20.2 points per game, Grant eclipsed the 20-point mark for a school-record seventh-straight contest. The Red Storm's top rebounder at 6.3 boards per game this season, Grant also ranks in ninth in the BIG EAST in that category.
Sunday will be monumental for the Red Storm in terms of seeding for the BIG EAST Tournament. Currently, St. John's is locked in a three-way tie with Seton Hall and Villanova for second place in the conference with a record of 11-6 in league play. Should all three of those teams claim victory on Sunday, St. John's will be the three seed in the BIG EAST Tournament due to its 2-2 record against the "mini-conference" of St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova. The Wildcats (3-1) would take the two-seed, while Seton Hall (1-3) would be fourth.
SCOUTING CREIGHTON
Creighton enters Sunday's contest with a record of 13-16 overall, including a 7-10 mark in conference.
The Bluejays have two active players averaging double figures, led by freshman Audrey Faber at 13.1 points per game. The rookie is also the team's top three-point shooter, converting on 54 of her 130 attempts so far this season, good enough for 41.5 percent.
MC McGory is second on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game.
Sydney Lamberty and Jade Owens are excellent ball distributors for the Bluejays. Lamberty averages 3.0 assists per game with a 1.9 assist to turnover ratio, while Owens leads the team with 3.5 assists per game and a 1.7 assist to turnover ratio.
Creighton is the league's top free throw shooting team at 77.9 percent. Of the five Bluejays that average 25 minutes or more per game, all five shoot above 70 percent while three out of the five (Faber, McGory and Lauren Works) shoot 80 percent or better from the charity stripe.
ST. JOHN'S VS. CREIGHTON- THE SERIES
In nine meetings between the Bluejays and the Red Storm, St. John's holds a 6-3 all-time advantage.
Since Creighton joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season, St. John's has won five of the seven meetings between the two teams, including a thrilling 57-54 win in last year's BIG EAST quarterfinals.
Earlier this season, St. John's outlasted Creighton in a 66-55 come-from-behind victory in Omaha.
