St. John's Falls at No. 24/24 DePaul, 73-64

Friday, January 18

Chicago, Ill. (MCGrath-Phillips Arena)

8:00 PM

St. John's University

8-9

No. 24/24 DePaul University

13-5

St. John's

DePaul

1/18/2019 10:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Four Johnnies finished in double figures behind the lead of Alisha Kebbe

By: Victoria Lanza

Despite double figure scoring from four St. John's players, the Red Storm women's basketball team dropped its BIG EAST contest with No. 24/24 DePaul on Friday evening, falling 73-64 inside McGrath-Phillips Arena.

Alisha Kebbe paced the Red Storm for the third-straight contest, netting a team-high 13 points. The Philadelphia native finished 4-of-9 from the field, while draining a trio of triples for the Johnnies. In addition, the 5-foot-10 guard recorded a team-most six rebounds, along with two steals and a block on the evening.

Tiana England added 12 points and six assists, while Akina Wellere and Kadaja Bailey also finished in double figures, chipping in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Despite the Johnnies' setback, holding the Blue Demons to 73 points marked the second time this year that the Red Storm has held a ranked opponent to 73 points or less in a contest.

DePaul (13-5, 4-2 BIG EAST) dominated the rebounding battle against St. John's, out boarding the Johnnies (8-9, 1-5 BIG EAST) by a 37-29 margin.

St. John's got on the board first, as Kebbe drained a shot from downtown. However, DePaul responded with a 9-0 run, strung together by three-straight shots from beyond the arc to lead, 9-3, with under eight minutes to play in the opening stanza.

The Johnnies then rattled off a 7-0 run of their own to regain the lead, 10-9, at the 5:42 mark. That would be the Red Storm's last lead of the quarter, as the Blue Demons managed to put up 10 unanswered points to hold a 19-10 advantage following the first frame.

After trailing by as many as 12 early in the second stanza, the Johnnies unleashed a 6-0 streak to pull back within six, 24-18, with just over six minutes to play in the half.

After trading buckets with DePaul over the next few minutes, St. John's strung together an 8-2 run to get back within five, 34-29, at the half.

At the end of 20 minutes, Kebbe paced the way for the Red Storm with 10 points, on a 3-of-7 shooting effort from the floor. The Philadelphia native drained both of her attempts from beyond the arc, while also bringing down a game-high four boards entering the intermission.

Coming out of the locker room, the Red Storm set off on an offensive serge, outscoring the Blue Demons, 11-3, to take over the lead, 40-37, with 6:34 on the clock. Over the next six minutes, there were two ties and five lead changes, with DePaul leading 51-48 entering the final frame.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Blue Demons fired off seven points to extend their lead, 58-48, with 6:49 remaining in the game. The Red Storm continued to battle using a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to five, 65-60, with just under two minutes remaining. Unfortunately that was as close as the Johnnies would get, as DePaul slowly pulled away over the remainder of the contest.