St. John’s Drops Heartbreaker to Florida State, 57-53

Sunday, December 9

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

2:00 P.M.

St. John's University

(6-3)

Florida State

(9-1)

Florida State

St. John's

St. John’s Drops Heartbreaker to Florida State, 57-53

12/9/2018 6:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Kayla Charles grabs a career-high 20 rebounds in her first collegiate start

By: Victoria Lanza

Trailing by 14 with just over six minutes to play in the contest, the St. John's women's basketball team outscored Florida State 19-9 down the stretch but fell just short of completing the comeback, 57-53, at Carnesecca Arena Sunday afternoon.

In her first start at the collegiate level, Kayla Charles did not disappoint. The Far Rockaway native was on the edge of recording her second-career double-double, with nine points and a career-best 20 rebounds. The 6-foot-3 forward's 20 carom effort makes her just the fifth Johnnie in program history to record at least 20 boards in a single game.

Alisha Kebbe paced the way offensively for the Johnnies. The Philadelphia native posted a team-high 17 points on a 5-of-13 shooting effort from the floor, draining four of her six tries from long distance. The junior guard also brought down five boards while dishing out one assist as well as delivering one block in Sunday's contest.

St. John's leading scorer Qadashah Hoppie finished with 14 points for the Red Storm. The Staten Island native has now notched double figures in seven of the team's nine games so far this season.

Florida State got the scoring started early, putting up the first four points of the game. However, the St. John's sophomore trio of Charles, Hoppie and Tiana England responded by stringing together an 8-0 run for the Johnnies. This set the Red Storm up for a four-point lead at the midway mark of the opening stanza.

The two teams traded off possessions over the remainder of the first quarter as the Seminoles battled back to take a two-point lead, 11-9, after 10 minutes of action.

Similar to the opening frame, Florida State put up the first few points of the second stanza to extend its lead to 13-10 following first two minutes. Shortly after, with the Seminoles holding on to a 15-10 advantage, the Johnnies pulled it together rattling off a 6-0 run to reclaim the lead, 16-15, at the three-minute mark.

After the first 20 minutes of action, Charles had recorded a team-high 12 rebounds and seven points to pace the Johnnies at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, both teams were slow to get started offensively. The Seminoles eventually broke through the scoring drought with a free throw at the 8:22 mark. Akina Wellere followed that with a jump shot to pull the game within one, 20-19.

The two teams traded buckets over the next several minutes but he Seminoles never lost sight of the lead, holding on to a 37-32 advantage entering the final quarter.

Trailing by 14 with just over six minutes remaining in the contest, the Red Storm made one final push, closing the game on a 19-9 run, but fell four points shy of completing the comeback. Hoppie scored nine points during that stretch while Kebbe added six for the Red Storm.

St. John's will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 15, when the team travels to Philadelphia for a 2 p.m. contest against La Salle.