The athletic department and the women’s basketball team are trying to develop support for the Red Storm by asking fans to stand and clap until it makes a shot from the field. After last night’s game against Boston College, the athletic department might want to invest in orthopedic shoes for the fans.
In the Big East opener, St.John’s was crushed by BC 75-36 in a loss that saw SJU score only six first half points. The score at intermission was 29-6.
From the opening tip, the Eagles overwhelmed the shocked Red Storm (5-6, 0-1) and never let it gain momentum. In addition to BC’s overall play, was the atrocious Red Storm offense. In the first half, as a team, the Red Storm shot 3-of-23 from the field and for the game, 14-of-62. Along with the bad shooting, was SJU’s inability to keep the Eagles off the boards, getting outrebounded 53 to 31.
To give you an idea how bad the Red Storm was on offense, it went scoreless for over 13 minutes, with the drought endind with a Rasheedah Brown lay up early in the second half. But by that time BC led 31-8. The only offensive highlight was a driving lay-up by Rasheedah Brown, and the only player to shoot over 50 percent from the field was Sladjana Cvijetic, who was 1 for 1 from the field, finishing with two points.
After the game, Head Coach Darcel Estep was understandbly angry about the loss. “I think, overall, we didn’t come in prepared. The right people took the shots, it wasn’t an out of control type game. This was a night what could have went wrong, went wrong,” said Estep.
“Give Boston College their due. They’re not a team that ranked, in the last three or four years, in the top 25 for no reason.”
Estep said her team was continually making mental mistakes, which they hadn’t seen in a long time. When asked where the team goes from here, Estep grew defiant.
“You can’t let one loss determine what your future is. They’re hurting because they knew it was in their hands to control. They understand they have another opprotunity.”
Estep insinuated that several vetrans were not mentally prepared. But she was proud that her team didn’t mail it in.
“To the end they fought. To the end. So if it was a matter of them not understanding, then I think they would have quit a long time ago.” Estep finished by stating her team would learn from this loss and use it as motivation against West Virginia and Notre Dame.
Game Notes: Late in the second half, center Tynisha Myles collapsed in front of the bench and had to be helped off the court. Estep said she didn’t know the extent of her injury. This was Janelle McManus’s first home coming game. The freshman point guard of the Eagles went to Bishop Kearny High School and had family and friends at the game. BC now holds a 24-11 lifetime advantage over St. John’s, and have won the last nine in a row. St. John’s ranks last in the Big East in attendance, averaging 239 fans a game. They had 243 for this game. The next home game is Tuesday against Notre Dame.
