St. John's Doubles Up Xavier, 74-37, in Regular Season Finale

Sunday, March 1

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

4:00 p.m.

St. John's University

18-11,11-7Big East

Xavier

3-26,2-16Big East

Xavier

St. John's (NY)

St. John's Doubles Up Xavier, 74-37, in Regular Season Finale

3/1/2020 8:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Emma Nolan leads the Red Storm with season-high 16 points

By: Victoria Lanza

The St. John's women's basketball team closed out the regular season in commanding fashion, dominating Xavier, 74-37, at Carnesecca Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The 37-point drubbing was the largest in BIG EAST play for St. John's since defeating Butler, 76-38, at Carnesecca Arena in 2017-18.

St. John's set a new season-low for points allowed by holding the Musketeers (3-26, 2-16 BIG EAST) to just 37 points on 14-of-60 (23.3%) shooting from the floor.

With their victory, the Johnnies (18-11, 11-7 BIG EAST) have earned a spot as the three-seed in the BIG EAST tournament and will take on No. 6 seeded Creighton in the quarterfinal on March 7 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

St. John's improved to 11-3 at home this season with the win over Xavier. This marks the Johnnies' best home record since the 2015-16 campaign, as St. John's went 11-3 in Queens before going on to claim the conference crown.

Emma Nolan led the way for the Red Storm, recording a season-high 16 points. The freshman forward knocked down a trio of triples on the afternoon, while converting on seven of her eight attempts from the free-throw line.

Tiana England joined Nolan in double figures, finishing with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor. The Stamford, Conn., native also dished out a pair of assists and grabbed two steals against the Musketeers.

Seniors Shamachya Duncan and Alissa Alston chipped in nine points apiece. Classmate Alisha Kebbe and sophomore Kadaja Bailey each added eight points on the afternoon. Kebbe, who leads the Johnnies in rebounding, also pulled down a team-high seven boards.

All 12 active players saw the floor for the Johnnies as the home side received 27 points from its bench.

The Johnnies controlled the momentum early, firing off a 13-4 run to lead at the midway mark in the opening frame. The Red Storm continued its offensive surge down the stretch of the first period, outscoring the Musketeers, 11-6, over the final four minutes. The Johnnies, who lead the BIG EAST in three-point field goal percentage, converted on five of their seven tries from beyond the arc in the first quarter.

St. John's fired off five unanswered points to open up the second frame and balloon its lead up to 17, 29-12. Xavier began to chip away at the Red Storm's advantage, holding the Johnnies without a field goal over the final six minutes of the half. Despite the Red Storm's second quarter scoring drought, St. John's held on to a 13-point advantage, 34-21, at the intermission.

Both programs went scoreless over the first two minutes of the third period before Nolan finally snapped the drought, draining a pair of free throws for the Red Storm. This ignited a Johnnies' 12-0 run, as they took a commanding 25-point lead, 46-21, with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter.

St. John's defense dominated throughout the third frame, as the Red Storm held Xavier to just six points to lead by 30, 57-27, entering the final frame.

Putting the game to bed over the last 10 minutes of play, St. John's unleashed an 11-0 run to open the quarter and never looked back, sealing the victory, 74-37.

St. John's will return to action on March 7 when the Johnnies travel to Chicago to take on Creighton in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Tournament at Wintrust Arena. Tip-off is slated for 9:30 p.m. ET on FS2.