St. John’s Kicks Off Final Road Swing at Creighton on Friday

Friday, February 14

Omaha, Neb. (D.J. Sokol Arena)

7:00 p.m.

St. John's University

Creighton

St. John’s Kicks Off Final Road Swing at Creighton on Friday

2/13/2020 5:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF) Watch FS2 Live Stats

The Red Storm and Bluejays will meet at 7 p.m. ET on FS2

By: Victoria Lanza

The St. John's women's basketball team will kick off a two-game road swing on Friday night, squaring off with Creighton at 7 p.m. ET in Omaha, Neb.

The contest will be broadcast live on FS2 with John Fanta and Monica McNutt on the call from D.J. Sokol Arena.

St. John's (14-10, 7-6 BIG EAST) enters its final road trip of the regular season looking to complete the season sweep over Creighton. Through games played on Sunday, the Johnnies are currently tied for sixth place in the BIG EAST standings with Villanova, both boasting a 7-6 record in league action. The Red Storm and Bluejays are just half a game apart in the standings, as Creighton checks in at fifth with a 7-5 mark in conference play. The Bluejays are slotted No. 35 in the RPI, for the highest RPI of a team remaining on the Red Storm's regular-season slate.

After suffering consecutive defeats at the hands of then-No.14/14 DePaul and Marquette, the Johnnies will look to bounce back in Friday's contest with Creighton. The loss to the defending BIG EAST champion DePaul came at Carnesecca Arena, as the Blue Demons used a 31-point fourth quarter to complete the comeback over the Red Storm. Two days later, St. John's fell at home to Marquette, 67-57.

Senior guard Alisha Kebbe led the way for the Johnnies against the Golden Eagles on Sunday, finishing just shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds to go along with a trio of blocks. Qadashah Hoppie and Leilani Correa joined Kebbe in double figures, chipping in 10 points apiece in the Red Storm's losing effort.

Alissa Alston netted eight points in addition to dishing out a team-high six assists to go along three steals in the Johnnies' setback to Marquette. With her second point of the game, Alston, who played three seasons at Ole Miss before arriving at St. John's, reached the 1,000-point mark for her collegiate career. The redshirt senior became the third Johnnie this season to reach the milestone, joining Hoppie and Kebbe.

Despite the team's 0-2 record in its last two outings, Hoppie put forth stellar efforts during that stretch, including a career-high 27 point performance in the Johnnies' setback to the nationally ranked Blue Demons. The Staten Island native connected on seven of her 14 attempts from beyond the arc in her last two games, converting at a 50 percent clip. The 5-foot-7 guard was also dead accurate from the charity stripe, converting on 10 of her 12 tries from the free-throw line.

Friday will mark the 20th all-time meeting between St. John's and Creighton, with the Johnnies holding a 10-9 advantage. St. John's will look to pick up its second win of the season over Creighton after defeating the Bluejays, 63-58, at Carnesecca Arena earlier this year. In the two team's last meeting, that saw the Bluejays play without their leading scorer Jaylyn Agnew, the Red Storm's defense held the Creighton to 20-of-52 (38.5%) shooting from the field and just 33 percent (8-of-24) from distance.

Creighton (15-8, 7-5 BIG EAST) enters Friday's matchup with the Red Storm having won two of its last three games, including a 63-61 thriller over then-No. 11 ranked DePaul.

Creighton is led offensively by Agnew, who was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Monday, following a career-high 38-point performance at Providence. The senior guard ranks second in the conference and 15th in the nation with 19.9 points per contest. Agnew also leads the NCAA in free throw percentage, hitting 93.3 percent of her shots from the charity stripe.

Following Friday's contest with the Bluejays, the Johnnies will wrap up their two-game road swing with a trip to Providence for a 1 p.m. meeting with the Friars at Alumni Hall.