In what can be called its best conference game of the season the St. John’s women’s basketball team fell to the Seton Hall Pirates on Saturday, 59-54. The Red Storm now fall to 6-14 overall and are 2-8 in Big East competition.In what can be called its best conference game of the season the St. John’s women’s basketball team fell to the Seton Hall Pirates on Saturday, 59-54. The Red Storm now fall to 6-14 overall and are 2-8 in Big East competition.In what can be called its best conference game of the season the St. John’s women’s basketball team fell to the Seton Hall Pirates on Saturday, 59-54. The Red Storm now fall to 6-14 overall and are 2-8 in Big East competition.
One thing that came out of this game was the strong performance by freshman Sherri Brown. Brown had a career-high 14 points, including four three-pointers. This performance is what Head Coach Darcel Estep has been looking for from S. Brown this whole season.
“This was a treat for us,” said Estep. “She is a freshman who came in very aggressive and confident in the beginning then went backwards a little bit with the challenge and now she’s coming back forward. She really stepped up and really helped us and that’s a real plus.” Brown led the Red Storm in the first half in scoring with 10 points.
“I just come out and play hard every day,” said Brown. “My coaches looked for me to score in past games and right now I’m just trying to step up and help us get the win.”
This high pace game saw six ties and eight leads changes in the first half. Another key factor to this loss was the ability of the Pirates to out rebound the Red Storm. In the first half both teams had 13 boards apiece. In the second half the Pirates pulled down 26 rebounds, while the Red Storm only had another 13. Going into the half the score was tied at 32 and both teams had an equal opportunity to come out victorious.
Katrina Johns opened up the second half with a jumper and Brown hit a 3- pointer to give the Red Storm a quick 37-32 lead. The Red Storm held the lead until the 12:07 mark until the Pirates tied the score at 48-48 and proceeded to finish off their 9-0 run by taking lead 55-49.
During this time, guard Latasha Thompson, who was playing a terrific game contributing both offensively and defensively, got hurt. Thompson hit into one of her own players then suffered two strains in both of her calves. Then a Pirates player tripped over her. While she was sitting, the Red Storm saw its lead diminish and found themselves trailing by five when she returned to the game.
“I feel that I went down at a crucial time,” said Thompson. “When I went down we were up by eight when I came back we were down by five. I think that was the turning point of the game.”
Her teammate Rasheedah Brown, who now extended her scoring in double figures streak to 20 games, by scoring a team high 16 points saw the affect of Thompson’s getting knocked out of the game had on the team. “It was real tough for me because when she’s out there I pump her up and she pumps me. When she went down I had to stay in the game because if the team sees me down they’re going to put their heads down.”
During the last minute of the game Thompson appeared to steal the ball from the Pirates but the referee made a crucial jump ball call that gave possession back to the Pirates. Both Coach Estep and the players don’t want to blame the officials for a loss they could have prevented but feel that if it were a different game or situation the call would have been a foul on the Pirates.
