St. John’s Downs Marquette on the Road in Regular Season Finale, 56-50

Tuesday, February 27

Milwaukee, Wisc. (Al McGuire Center)

8:30 p.m.

St. John's University

17-13,11-7Big East

Marquette

21-7,10-7Big East

St. John's (NY)

Marquette

St. John’s Downs Marquette on the Road in Regular Season Finale, 56-50

2/27/2024 11:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Red Storm will secure No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament with a Villanova loss in either of its last two games

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – The St. John's women's basketball team earned a pivotal road win over Marquette, 56-50, on Tuesday night on FS1.

The road victory marked the first time since 2017 the Red Storm have beaten the Golden Eagles in Milwaukee and held their high-powered offense to a season-low 50 points and 29.7 percent shooting from the floor.

After tonight's win, St. John's can clinch the No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament if Villanova loses either of its two remaining contests against UConn and DePaul.

Ber'Nyah Mayo finished with a game-high 19 points and went 8-for-10 from the charity stripe.

Unique Drake scored the team's first eight points and ended the contest with 15 points. The sharpshooter nailed three triples to reach 70 for the season and moving into fourth on the St. John's single-season record list.

Phoenix Gedeon was everywhere in Tuesday night's win at the Al McGuire Center. The forward recorded six points, a season-high in rebounds (11) and steals (4) while adding two assists in 35 minutes.

Jillian Archer matched her frontcourt mate for the game-high in rebounds pulling down 11 boards. Over her last three games, the graduate student is logging 11.3 boards per game. The forward also tallied two blocks including a crucial stuff with 0:32 to play.

The Red Storm defense was stellar, holding Marquette, which came into the game ranked top-10 nationally shooting 38.0 percent from 3-point range, to just 22.7 percent.

Drake started off the scoring with a 3-pointer and then hit a mid-range jumper. She nailed her second triple of the day tallying the first eight points of the game for the Johnnies. Mayo ended the quarter by jetting to the cup and banking one to go down one, 15-14, at the end of the opening frame.

In the second stanza, Drake quickly got to double-figures for the 25^th time this season sinking a mid-range jumper to regain the lead, 16-15. After Marquette tied it at 16, the Red Storm spurred an 8-2 run that started and ended with tough lay-ups from Skye Owen, including a coast-to-coast finish. On the final play, Mayo took it to the basket, got her own rebound and rose up through contact to put home a lay-in as the buzzer expired.  St. John's (17-13, 11-7 BIG EAST) went into halftime with a three-point edge, 30-27.

In the second half, Mayo made an off-balance triple as the shot clock winded down banking it in to put the Red Storm up by seven, 36-29. St. John's continued to expand its advantage as it held Marquette scoreless for 8:50 of game time during the third quarter. The Red Storm constructed a 12-0 run that was capped by an Archer block that led to a lay-in for Drake on the other end and a Johnnies 42-29 lead. Marquette responded with a 6-0 run in the final minute of the quarter to cut its deficit to seven, 42-35, heading into the last 10 minutes.

In the final frame, St. John's widened its lead to as many as 14, as Mayo picked up a loose ball and banked in a lay-up for two. The Golden Eagles stormed back, going on a 10-1 scoring stretch to make it a five-point game. 50-45, with 2:50 left to play. After Mayo split at the line, Archer came up with a crucial block on Liza Karlen to earn possession back with 30 seconds to play. The point guard once again went to the free throw line and this time knocked down both to make it an eight-point game. After a Mackenzie Hare triple, Owen took care of business at the stripe to put the game out of reach, clinching a season sweep of Marquette for the first time since 2017.

St. John's will have a 10-day break before it competes in the BIG EAST Tournament on March 9 in the quarterfinal round. More information will be released when it becomes available.

The Red Storm finished the regular season with a 17-13 record and an 11-7 mark in BIG EAST play. A third-place finish marks the program's highest since the 2019-20 season.