St. John's University Athletics
Handford, Grant Honored by BIG EAST
3/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BIG EAST Major Award Release
All-BIG EAST Team Release
QUEENS, N.Y. - The BIG EAST released its annual end-of-season awards on Wednesday and the St. John's Red Storm was once again well-represented, as Aliyyah Handford and Danaejah Grant earned spots on the All-BIG EAST First Team. Handford was also named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year.
The first BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in St. John's history, Handford is the program's seventh major award winner all-time and the first since Eugeneia McPherson garnered the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award in 2013-14.
Handford, the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, becomes the first player in program history to earn three-career First Team All-BIG EAST selections after averaging 16.5 points per game this season, good enough for fourth in the league. The senior cemented her legacy as the most prolific scorer in program history as a senior, passing Ling Ling Hou (1,950) for number one on the St. John's all-time scoring list on Feb. 26 against Providence. Currently with 1,992 points for her career, Handford is just eight away from becoming the first St. John's Women's Basketball player to reach the 2,000-point plateau.
A force on the defensive end, the Newark, N.J., native led the league in steals during conference play with 2.6 per outing, while finishing second overall with 2.4 swipes per contest on the season. The senior guard also ranked third on the team with 5.6 boards per game and set a new career-high in blocks with 20. Thanks in large part to Handford's veteran leadership, the Red Storm surrendered just 61.1 points per game this season, good enough for third in the league. With 259 steals over the course of her St. John's tenure, Handford ranks third all-time in program history in that category.
After earning a spot on the All-BIG EAST Second Team as a junior in 2014-15, Grant built upon that success even further as a senior, putting together one of the most dominant seasons in program history. The 5-9 guard led the league in scoring at 19.7 points per game, reaching double figures in all but one contest and registering 15 performances of 20 points or more. From Jan. 31 to Feb. 26, Grant set a school record by scoring at least 20 points in seven-straight games, including three performances of 27 or more. Grant also led the team in rebounding at 6.2 boards per tilt, finishing just outside the top 10 in the conference in that category. In addition, she ranked fourth in the BIG EAST with a 50.1 field goal percentage.
Despite having just 88 games at St. John's under her belt, Grant has already cracked the top 10 on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,424 points as a member of the Red Storm. Her 572 points this season are just nine shy of cracking the top five in the school's single-season record book, as her 580 points last year currently mark the fifth-best single-season output in school history.
The Red Storm kicks off BIG EAST Tournament action on Sunday, taking on Georgetown at 9:30 p.m. ET in Chicago. The game will be aired lived on FS2.
