St. John’s Comes Up Short at No. 8/8 Florida State, 74-70

Sunday, December 15

Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

6-4,0-0Big East

No. 8/8 Florida State

10-0,1-0ACC

St. John's (NY)

Florida St.

St. John’s Comes Up Short at No. 8/8 Florida State, 74-70

12/15/2019 5:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Qadashah Hoppie leads the way for the Johnnies with 16 points

By: Victoria Lanza

Trailing by as many as 15 with just over 13 minutes to play in the game, the St. John's women's basketball team pulled within four of No. 8/8 Florida State in the closing seconds of the contest, before the Johnnies' comeback effort fell short as the Seminoles escaped with a 74-70 victory.

Qadashah Hoppie led the team in scoring with 16 points on a 5-for-10 shooting from the floor, knocking down all four of her tries from the charity stripe.

Redshirt senior Alissa Alston also finished in double figures, tallying 15 points to go along with a pair of assists.

Emma Nolan and Tiana England joined Hoppie and Alston in double-digit scoring finishing with 11 points each. England also paced the Johnnies with a trio of assists, dishing out the 400th helper of her Red Storm career.

St. John's (6-4) drew a pair of fouls in the early going of the opening period, kick starting a 5-0 run for the visiting team. FSU snapped the Johnnies' opening streak with a pull up jumper to get on the board. Hoppie answered with a shot from deep to extend the Red Storm's lead, 8-2.

The two teams traded blows over the next few minutes, as Florida State (10-0) knocked down a shot to knot the game at 10 with just under six minutes to play in the first frame. Nolan put the Johnnies back on top as she sank a jumper before England converted from distance putting St. John's ahead, 15-10, with four minutes to play in the opening stanza.

The two programs continued to battle down the stretch of the first quarter, with FSU knotting the contest at 18. With 33 seconds on the clock, Hoppie converted on a jump shot to put St. John's ahead, 20-18, after 10 minutes of action.

The Red Storm carried its offensive momentum into the second quarter, rattling off six early points to extend its lead, 26-18, over the ranked Seminoles. The run was strung together off of layups made by Alisha Kebbe, Leilani Correa and Hoppie.

Florida State responded by knocking down seven unanswered points to pull the contest within one, 26-25, with a little over five minutes to play in the half.

Alston snapped FSU's second-quarter streak with a drive to the basket, making it a three-point game in favor of the Johnnies', 28-25. Midway through the second stanza, FSU fired off an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the contest, 36-28, with under three minutes to play.

This lit a fire within the Red Storm, as Alston and Hoppie teamed up on a 7-0 run to inch back within one, 36-35, with under a minute to play in the half. The Seminoles' Nausia Woolfolk netted a last second jumper to extend their lead to three, 38-35, at the intermission.

After 20 minutes of action Hoppie led the way for the Red Storm in scoring with 12 points on a 4-for-6 shooting from the floor. As a team, the Johnnies entered the locker room hitting 56.5 percent of their shots from the field, connecting on 13-of-23.

FSU drained the first shot out of the gate extending its lead, 40-35. The two programs went scoreless for nearly three minutes before Kebbe converted on a pair of free throws to cut the Red Storm's deficit to three, 40-37, at the seven-minute mark.

Over the next few minutes, the Seminoles outscored the Johnnies, 11-4, to take the first double-digit advantage of the game, 51-41.

With the Johnnies trailing by 15, 56-41, and under two minutes to play in the third quarter the Red Storm began to chip away at the Seminoles' lead, closing the gap to nine, 58-49, after 30 minutes of action. The Johnnies' late 8-2 streak was capped off by a buzzer-beating three off the hands of Correa.

The Johnnies fired off one final offensive push over the last 10 minutes of action, outscoring FSU, 21-16, but could not complete the comeback.

St. John's will return to action on Friday, Dec. 20 when the team returns home to Carnesecca Arena for its final matchup of non-conference play. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN3.