St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
14-7, 6-4BE
Butler
5-16, 2-8BE
St. John's Outlasts Butler, 62-55
1/27/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Box Score (PDF) | Photos | Quotes | VIDEO: Highlights | VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
QUEENS, N.Y. - Behind a combined 54 points from Jade Walker, Aaliyah Lewis, Alisha Kebbe and Akina Wellere, the St. John's women's basketball held on for a 62-55 win over visiting Butler at Carnesecca Arena Friday night. The win is the Red Storm's second straight and eighth on the year on its home court.
"I thought this was a hard fought win for us," Head Coach Joe Tartamella said. "Obviously a big one, because they all are. I thought the game was sort of lethargic through the middle part of the game ... I thought we did a great job to pace ourselves in the first quarter, where they scored and we were able to counteract."
Walker scored 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor. The senior from Maplewood, N.J., also went 4-for-6 from the free throw line and grabbed three rebounds in the win.
Lewis, who missed most of the week's practices due to an illness, also scored 16 points while dishing out eight assists. From the charity stripe, the 5-5 guard from Staten Island hit all five of her attempts, grabbed a pair of rebounds and committed just two turnovers.
Kebbe amassed 12 points and four rebounds. The freshman knocked down a career-high seven free throws. Wellere chipped in 10 despite hitting just three of her 13 attempts from the field. Of those three makes, two came from behind the arc and the sophomore went 2-for-3 from the free throw line, as well.
Overall, St. John's (14-7, 6-4 BIG EAST) committed just six turnovers, the fewest in a single game since the Johnnies had seven turnovers against Villanova on Feb. 19, 2015. Defensively, the Red Storm forced 19 Butler (5-16, 2-8 BIG EAST) turnovers and came away with 10 steals for the first time in a game since the last time these two teams met back on Jan. 5.
From the field, the Johnnies hit 18 of their 50 tries for a 36.0 percent success rate. On the other end, the Bulldogs converted on 18 of their 41 attempts for a 43.9 field goal percentage. The difference came at the free throw line, where the Red Storm knocked down 21 of its 28 attempts, including going 15-for-19 in the final quarter. Butler, on the other hand, went 17-for-21.
In what was a high-scoring first quarter, both teams shot 69.2 percent from the floor. Late in the opening period with St. John's trailing 19-15, freshman Andrayah Adams scored the quarter's final five points to give the Red Storm a 20-19 advantage entering the second. Adams knocked down a jumper off the dribble before draining a three with four seconds left on the clock to put her team up at the intermission.
Both teams struggled offensively in the second and third quarters, with the Johnnies outscoring the Bulldogs, 21-16, over the middle two periods. Throughout the third period, St. John's built its lead to 11, 37-26, after Wellere knocked down a pair of three pointers on back-to-back possessions. With the Red Storm leading by 10, 41-31, Butler closed the quarter on a brief 4-0 spurt to cut the lead to six, 41-35, entering the final stanza.
In the fourth, the Bulldogs scored the quarter's first three points to get within three, 41-38. Later in the period, a Tori Schickel lay-up with 5:08 on the clock made it a two-point game, 46-44. From that point, St. John's outscored Butler, 16-11, with the majority of the points coming from the free throw line. With the Red Storm leading 47-44, Lewis converted an old fashioned three-point play, putting the Johnnies up 50-44. Later, Lewis hit a lay-up to put St. John's back up five, 52-47.
After the Red Storm made it a seven-point game, 58-51, Butler trimmed it back to five with a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to play. On the next possession, Lewis was fouled and hit both attempts from the line, putting the Johnnies back up seven. The Bulldogs answered with a pair of free throws to cut it back to five, 60-55, with 18 seconds left, but Lewis drained two more from the charity stripe with 16 seconds to play, putting the game out of reach.
St. John's is back in action on Sunday, when the Red Storm welcome Xavier to "The World's Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden. The opening tip is scheduled for 3 p.m. on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
