St. John’s Routs La Salle, 83-57, at Tom Gola Arena

Saturday, December 15

Philadelphia, Pa. (Tom Gola Arena)

2:00 p.m.

St. John's University

7-3

La Salle

1-9

St. John's

La Salle

St. John’s Routs La Salle, 83-57, at Tom Gola Arena

12/15/2018 5:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Wellere leads the way for the Johnnies with 21 points

By: Victoria Lanza

The St. John's women's basketball team made a 14-0 run over the final five minutes of action to cement a, 83-57, wire-to-wire win against La Salle on Saturday afternoon.

The Johnnies' 83-point scoring effort marked the team's best of the season and the most points in a single contest since the Red Storm defeated William & Mary, 92-81, last November. The Johnnies have now recorded more than 80 points in two contests this season.

Akina Wellere led the way for the Red Storm, with a game-high 21 points on an 8-of-12 shooting effort from the field, knocking down 2-of-4 from long distance. The Chicago native is now just 31 points shy of joining the 1,000-point club.

Philadelphia native Alisha Kebbe put on quite the performance in her hometown, finishing just shy of a double-double. The junior guard netted 19 points, one short of her career-high 20. Kebbe also brought down nine boards, while adding four steals and a pair of blocks to her name on the stat sheet.

Two other St. John's players reached double figures in scoring, as Qadashah Hoppie turned in 16 points. The Staten Island native has now finished in double digits in eight of the team's 10 contests this season. Kayla Charles netted a career-best 12 points on 6-of-10 showing from the floor. The Far Rockaway native also brought down seven rebounds for the Red Storm.

Tiana England continued to be the team's key facilitator for the Red Storm, dishing out a career-high 11 assists against the Explorers.

The Johnnies continued to play stout defense on the season, turning 19 La Salle turnovers into 25 points, limiting the Explorers to just 57. With that St. John's has held six of its competitors to 60 points or less this year.

St. John's controlled the momentum in the early going of the game, rattling off an 11-2 run, with all five starters contributing points to make the score, 11-2, in favor of the Red Storm at the 6:23 mark.

Three minutes later, with the Johnnies leading, 13-8, the Red Storm took off on another streak, 9-2, to extend its lead to, 22-10, after the first 10 minutes of action.

Kebbe recorded a team-high nine points and four boards in the first frame, while the Johnnies defense forced seven turnovers, converting those into 10 points.

The two team's traded off buckets in the early going of the second quarter. The Explorers fought to stay alive but the Johnnies continued to execute stringing together a 6-0 run to take a 15-point advantage, 39-24, with under three minutes remaining in the half.

Entering the intermission, St. John's led by 11 points, with two players reaching double figures, as Kebbe tallied 13, while Wellere added 10.

The two programs played evenly matched over the third quarter before La Salle used a 12-1 run to pull the game within seven, 53-46, with 1:26 remaining on the clock.

Leading by 11, 60-49, after 30 minutes of action, the Red Storm dominated the fourth frame, making a 14-0 run, outscoring La Salle by a margin of 23-8 to lock down the win.

St. John's will wrap up its non-conference schedule with a trip to Harrisonburg, Va., on Friday, Dec. 21, where the team will showdown with JMU at 2 p.m.