St. John's Travels to Seton Hall to Open BIG EAST Play on Sunday

Embarking on its first BIG EAST road trip of the season, the St. John's women's basketball team will open up conference play in South Orange, N.J., against Seton Hall on Sunday at Walsh Gymnasium.

The game is set to tip off at 1 p.m. and will be live streamed on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) with John Fanta and Kim Adams on the call.

The Johnnies will kick off their 37th season of BIG EAST play hungry for a win, following a 64-51 setback on the road against James Madison on Dec. 21.

Despite the team's recent loss to JMU, Akina Wellere and Curteeona Brelove paced the Johnnies in scoring, netting 13 points apiece. Wellere has put forth a stellar offensive effort over the Red Storm's last two contests, averaging 17.0 points per game.

The senior guard from Chicago is averaging 10.7 points per outing entering conference play and has eclipsed double-digits in six of the team's 11 games, reaching the 20-point plateau for the fourth time in her career against La Salle (Dec. 15). Over her four seasons with the Red Storm, Wellere has netted a combined 982 points and enters Sunday's showdown with the Pirates, just 18 shy of reaching the 1,000-point mark.

Over the non-conference slate the Johnnies have been gobbling up rebounds, winning the board battle in six of the team's 11 contests. As a squad, the Red Storm have brought down at least 35 caroms on six different occasions. St. John's ranks second overall in the conference in rebounding defense at 33.8 per game and third in rebounding margin at +2.7.

Sophomore forward Kayla Charles currently paces the squad in boards, bringing down a combined 82 after 11 games to sit just six shy of her season-total 88 from last year. The Far Rockaway native is averaging 7.5 rebounds per contest, good enough to rank fifth overall in the league.

After capping off the regular season last year leading the league's rookies in assists, Tiana England in currently the conference's number one facilitator. The Stamford, Conn., native is dishing out 6.1 helpers per game to pace the league and rank in the top-15 on the national level.

St. John's is 4-2 in BIG EAST openers during the Joe Tartamella era. The Red Storm and the Pirates will meet for the 76th time in the history of the two programs, a series dating back to 1976 in which the Johnnies currently hold a 45-30 edge. The two programs have split the season series in each of the last two campaigns

The Pirates, who were picked to finish eighth in the BIG EAST, enter league play with a record of 8-3 after closing the non-conference schedule with a split at the West Palm Beach Invitational. Junior forward Shadeen Samuels has been a driving force for the Pirates offensively during the non-conference slate. The 6-foot forward is averaging 16.0 points per game while bringing down 9.3 rebounds to rank third in the BIG EAST in both statistical categories.

Samuels is joined in double-figure scoring by senior guards Nicole Jimenez at 12.6 and Inja Butina at 10.5 per game.

As a team, the Pirates rank inside the top-10 nationally in assists per game (19.9), steals per game (12.7), turnovers forced (23.6), and turnover margin (7.18).

Following Sunday's contest with the Pirates, the Johnnies will continue conference play on the road, as the Red Storm visits Xavier (Jan. 4) and Butler (Jan. 6) in a two-game swing.

St. John's Travels to Seton Hall to Open BIG EAST Play on Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Curteeona Brelove

Kayla Charles

Tiana England

Akina Wellere

St. John's University Athletics