St. John's Travels to Butler on Sunday Afternoon

Fresh off its first BIG EAST victory of the campaign, the St. John's women's basketball team travels to Indianapolis for a Sunday afternoon contest with Butler at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. with the national telecast airing on FS2. Monica McNutt and John Fanta will be on the call from Indy.

St. John's enters Sunday's showdown on the heels of its first conference victory, dominating Xavier, 76-57, at the Cintas Center.

The Red Storm's 19-point drubbing was highlighted by Akina Wellere's 1,000th point of her St. John's career. The senior from Chicago became just the 24th player in program history to reach that plateau as a member of the Red Storm and the fourth Johnnie in five years, joining Aliyyah Handford, Danaejah Grant and Jade Walker.

Wellere closed out the contest with a team-high 21 points, eclipsing the 20-point mark for the second time this season. The 5-foot-11 guard pulled away with her most efficient offensive effort of the campaign, shooting at a 69 percent clip from the floor, while draining a trio of triples.

While Wellere's stat line grabbed the headlines after the Xavier win, it was an all-around team effort as three other Johnnies joined Wellere in double-figure scoring. Tiana England and Curteeona Brelove poured in 12 points apiece, while Alisha Kebbe grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Kadaja Bailey stuffed the stat sheet for St. John's, finishing with her second-career double-double, recording 11 points and 12 rebounds. Seven of the rookie's 11 points came in the third quarter alone.

The Red Storm outscored Xavier in the paint, 46-18, while also winning the battle on the boards, 47-31, tying their second highest rebounding total of the season.

St. John's and current BIG EAST leader Butler (13-1, 3-0) will meet for the 11th time in the history of the two programs, a series dating back to 2014 in which the Johnnies currently hold an 8-2 edge, winning the last four meetings between the two teams.

The last time St. John's and Butler met, the Johnnies doubled up the Bulldogs, 76-38. The 38-point margin of victory was the largest in BIG EAST play for St. John's since the team defeated Providence, 93-40, on Feb. 2, 2005.

The Bulldogs enter Sunday's contest riding a seven-game win streak, including three-straight conference victories over Villanova, Georgetown and Seton Hall. Whitney Jennings has been the force behind Butler's offense, averaging 14.6 points per game, good enough for sixth in the conference. Tori Schickel (13.1) and Kristin Spolyar (11.9) are also averaging double figures for the Bulldogs. Schickel is the team's leader in rebounds, averaging 9.3 boards per contest, to rank second overall in the league.

Butler currently leads the conference in scoring defense (52.4) and rebounding margin (+10.6), while sitting second in defensive rebounds (27.4) as well as steals (12.3).

Following Sunday's showdown, the Red Storm will return home to Queens, where the Johnnies will host Providence in the Red Storm's BIG EAST home opener on Friday, Jan. 11 at 11 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Kadaja Bailey

Curteeona Brelove

Tiana England

Alisha Kebbe

Akina Wellere

St. John's University Athletics