On a stormy Sunday afternoon(Dec. 17) in Alumni hall a sparse crowd watched the St. John’s women’s basketball team put up a valiant effort against the now 8-0 Buffalo Bulls, losing by a score of 55-48.
The Red Storm’s Tynisha Myles started the games scoring off with a two pointer to start off on a positive note. St. John’s kept the lead till the Bull’s Katie Blazews made a thee pointer, to put Buffalo up 9-7. Senior Katrina Johns tied the score at 9 after pulling down an offensive rebound. The Red Storm then showed its speed with back to back lay-ups by forward Nora Gyuris and guard Rasheedah Brown to make it 15-9. After the Bulls called its first time out Senior Latasha Thompson came out and added two more points to the Red Storm’s lead. Myles then added another two to extend the lead to 17-12, but that was all the Red Storm would see of the lead in this game. The Bulls came back and after a string of two pointers it took the lead 18-17 and never looked back. The Red Storm only scored two more points on a lay-up by Myles and ended the first half trailing 24-19.
In the first half the Red Storm’s rebounding was strong with seven offensive boards, including two from both Johns and Brown, and nine defensive boards. But the offense was just not there only hitting 29 percent of its shots.
“I think the last five minutes of the first half the complexity of the game changed,” said Head Coach Darcel Estep. “We settled for long jumpers instead of attacking, and our defense was very good in the first fifteen minutes of the game.”
In the second half the Red Storm came out strong and looking determined to regain the lead but its shots were just not falling. SJU shot 10-25 in field goals and only 2-of-9 in three pointers. At one point, the Bulls were leading by as much as 10, but the Red Storm kept chiseling,and eventually cut the lead down to four. The Red Storm just couldn’t tame the Bulls.
One of the things Estep stresses that each game is a learning experience and one player who showed how much she has learned through her career here at St. John’s is Katrina Johns. Johns had the game of her life, totaling 5 offensive and 5 defensive rebounds and contributing 13 points, which gave her first ever double double.
“Katrina Johns had the game of her life,” said Estep. “I only coached her going into my second season, but this is the best performance she has had since I have been here and her offensive rebounding giving us the opportunity to score was key.”
The Red Storm, now 4-4, will be back in action on Thursday, Dec. 28 when it takes on Rhode Island at 6:00 in the first round of the Dartmouth Classic in Hanover, N.H.
