On Feb. 18, St. John’s and Georgetown faced off against each other in a crucial Big East matchup. Previously, the Johnnies and the Hoyas have played against each other a total of 13 times in the past five years, with the most recent game before this one being Jan. 13, which the Johnnies also lost, 59-34. Tonight’s game was different, a sour and painful loss.
Georgetown won the opening tip, but the Red Storm showed immediate promise. Junior Daniela Abies led to the game’s first basket and an early 4-2 St. John’s lead. It became clear quickly when the Hoyas caught up 10-4, that this wasn’t going to be an easy game. Nonetheless, the Red Storm refused to dim their light and held good defense thanks to Sa’Mya Wyatt’s steals and an extremely notable three-pointer from Janeya Grant that had the crowd screaming for more. (16-15)
Although the score got a little far away from them, the Johnnies knew exactly what they needed to focus on by getting the score back up to 25-24. But even then, lingering in the background, it was clear that the Johnnies were playing a catch-up game. As soon as they would get close to evening the score with the Hoyas, they would then distance with a five-point lead, which repeated until halftime, with the score being 34-29 at the break.
Once the second quarter began, each team came with this raw adrenaline that wasn’t seen in the first quarter.
It was back-to-back three pointers and layups, with one of the key scores of the game being a layup by Brooke Moore, that sent one of the Hoya players sliding across the court like she was on skates, which brought the score to 39-35.
The question that lingered on everyone’s mind became “Can the Johnnies pull off a win on their senior night when Georgetown was holding a lead of 49-45?” That question would soon be answered.
As it came down to the final 10 minutes of the second quarter, the tension was so thick you could cut a knife with it. Back-to-back landed free throws from Abies and Moore helped to bring the score to 55-52, the first time that the Red Storm had a real lead since the very beginning of the game.
Wyatt continued to set the Red Storm up for greatness as she brought the score to 57-52. Her overall 13 points combined with Moore’s 15 looked promising.
Down to the last minute, it truly looked like the Johnnies were going to pull through, until a foul was called on Abies. The foul allowed the Hoyas to get and make two free throws, bringing the score to 62-60. But there were still 23 seconds left.
St. John’s truly gave it their all till the last buzzer, but it heartbreakingly wasn’t enough.
The final score was 62-60.
The Johnnies now have two games remaining before the Big East Conference Tournament on March 6th. Their next contest is against Seton Hall on Feb. 22.