St. John’s Mounts Comeback at Providence, 55-48

Saturday, January 6

Providence, R.I. (Alumni Hall)

6 p.m.

St. John's University

9-7,3-1Big East

Providence

8-8,2-1Big East

St. John's (NY)

Providence

Unique Drake scored 24 points marking her eighth 20-point game of the season.

1/6/2024 9:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

Unique Drake goes off for 24 points for the second-straight game

PROVIDENCE, R.I.– The St. John's women's basketball team clawed back in the fourth quarter to earn a road win over Providence, 55-48.

The Red Storm trailed by eight late in the third quarter and fought back to win for the second consecutive game. St. John's (9-7, 3-1 BIG EAST) has now won five of its last six and seven of its last nine contests.

Unique Drake filled it up once again finishing the game with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the floor. The guard also finished with a career-high four steals.

Jillian Archer matched a career-high with four blocks for the second straight game. The graduate student also pulled down a team-high seven boards.

Tara Daye was stout defensively and made big plays for the Johnnies in the road win. The sophomore tied a career-high of 10 points and added four boards and three steals.

The Red Storm tallied 12 steals on Saturday night forced the Friars into 23 turnovers. St. John's capitalized scoring 23 points off turnovers.

After Providence opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, St. John's responded with an 8-0 scoring spurt that concluded with a steal leading to a fastbreak lay-up from Drake to force a Friars timeout. Drake drained a 3-pointer to make it, 13-7. With 4.1 left in the opening frame Archer finished at the rim through contact but missed the free-throw and the score read, 17-7 after the opening quarter. St. John's held Providence to 23.3 percent (3-13) shooting from the floor in the opening frame.

In the second frame, both teams started slow offensively as neither scored for the first 4:12 of the quarter. Daye got the Red Storm on the board with a lay-up in the paint. After a triple from Drake sprung the advantage back to double-digits, 24-14. The Friars added the final four points of the half to take a six-point advantage into the break, 24-18.

In the following half, Providence started the third off with an 8-0 run to claim its first lead of the contest. A mid-range jumper from Skye Owen broke the Red Storm scoring drought. Providence continued to control the third frame completing a 17-3 scoring stretch after an Olivia Olsen lay-up gave it an eight-point lead, 35-27, with 2:56 remaining in the third quarter. The Johnnies offense kicked into gear late in the third frame as they made four field goals over the final 1:47 to cut the deficit to three, 38-35, with 10 minutes to play.

In the final quarter, the Friars quickly converted just eight seconds into the fourth. From there, Drake took control once again tallying the next two baskets to cut the Friars lead to one, 40-39. Mayo corralled a misplaced pass and took off to the other end for an easy finish and to regain the lead, 41-40. After an Olsen free throw knotted the score line at 41. Drake came up clutch delivering a pair buckets to push the Red Storm edge to four, 45-41. After an and one from Brynn Farrell made it a one possession game, 49-46 with 0:21 to play. The Red Storm went 6-for-6 down the stretch at the charity stripe and Drake came up with a steal to help seal the victory.

The Red Storm will close out its two-game road swing on Tuesday night when it faces Xavier at 7 p.m. Following the matchup in Cincinnati St. John's will return home to face UConn at UBS Arena on Jan. 13 at 2 p.m.