The St. John’s women’s basketball team led by junior forward Monique McLean defeated Boston University 76-69 Saturday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena. The Red Storm advanced to a 5-1 record on the season, as the Terriers dropped to 5-3 overall.
McLean went on 7-of-15 shooting against the Terriers and finished with 21 points and five boards. Guards senior Kia Wright and freshman Sky Lindsay each contributed 13 points to the Red Storm win.
Although Wright is just coming off an injury, she still managed to score her 1,200th career point. Wright is currently ninth in career scoring in St. John’s women’s basketball history.
“I feel like my old self a little bit. I have more time to get better [and] in another week or so, I’ll feel like I’ll be back to my old playing form,” Wright said to redstormsports.com. “I’m working towards getting back in the starting line-up– it’s just going to take some time…”
The Red Storm edged the Terriers in the paint with 30 points scored inside. St. John’s defense forced many unexecuted plays as BU went on 35.6% shooting from the field. The Terriers were able to capitalize on their 19 offensive rebounds to generate 23 second-chance points. But, St. John’s was deep off the bench seeing a 25-point effort from their reserves.
At the beginning of the game, the Red Storm started out a little cold being down by as much as four points at the 16:37 mark of the first half. The Johnnies quickly regrouped and kept the Terriers at bay staying active off the glass. By the close of the first half, the Johnnies were up by ten points, 41-31.
“BU’s really a solid team,” said head coach Kim Barnes-Arico. “They have a great program and we had a real tough time last year so we knew it was going to be a challenge for us coming in. I thought we really focused each week on our turnovers and rebounding and we did a nice job in both areas in the game.”
In the second half, St. John’s dug a deep hole for BU. At the 15:55 mark, the Red Storm were up by as much as 14 points making the score 48-34. The Terriers were able to bring the game within five after a steal by junior guard Christine Kinneary. With 1:38 remaining on the clock, Kinneary set-up a give-and-go to senior guard Cheri Raffo for a three, making the score 72-67.
Despite their efforts, BU was unable to keep their composure in the last minute of game-play and sent St. John’s to the charity stripe three more times down the stretch. As a result, the Red Storm was able to seal their 3rd consecutive win of the season.
