7:52AM
Newsday (N.Y.): St. John's women beat Texas Tech, advance
7:52 AM
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
STANFORD, Calif -- Kim Barnes Arico was aware of what was happening. Yes, the fans were screaming. No, it wasn't for the coach's St. John's women's basketball team.
With a few seconds remaining in what wound up a 55-50 win for the Red Storm over Texas Tech Saturday in an NCAA Tournament first-round game, the growing crowd at Maples Pavilion let loose.
"You mean those cheers weren't for us?'' Barnes Arico joked.
She added, "I started to look around. I'm not naive enough not to know what was happening.''
There on the video board, the Stanford team was emerging from its locker room to face UC Davis in the second game, which it won easily. Stanford will host St. John's in the second round Monday night at Maples, the campus arena.
"You face that situation when you're playing Connecticut,'' Barnes Arico said about the crowd reaction. "That's the women's game, playing on the home court of an opponent in the tournament. Maybe we'll catch them on an off night, and maybe we'll have a phenomenal night.''
The Storm (22-10) wasn't phenomenal, but it was effective. Trailing 30-28 at intermission, St. John's opened the second half with an 8-0 run. Tech didn't get a point for the first 4 minutes, 32 seconds.
Then, after Tech (22-11) tied it at 36 with 10:46 left, St. John's ran off nine straight points in three-plus minutes. At that point, Texas Tech was 4-for-22 from the floor in the second half.
"I thought our defense was really exceptional,'' Barnes Arico said. "And even though we were undersized compared to Texas Tech, we outrebounded them.''
That they did, 47-40, with Da'Shena Stevens grabbing 11.
Sophomore point guard Nadirah McKenith, injured so often earlier in the season with concussions, an ankle sprain and a bruised thumb, led St. John's with 14 points and four assists. She also had seven rebounds.
"Only the last month has she been able to practice,'' Barnes Arico said. "She does everything. Down the stretch, she got two key rebounds and made her free throws.''
Said sophomore guard Eugeneia McPherson, who starred at North Babylon, "Having Nadirah on our team is an honor. She'll throw passes that I or anyone won't see. She's always ready to make a pass.''
Both the St. John's men and women had to cross the country, or most of it. The men played their NCAA first-rounder in Denver, two time zones west of New York, and lost to Gonzaga. The women traveled three time zones, which Barnes Arico said she attempted to downplay.
"St. John's looked more comfortable than we did,'' Tech coach Kristy Curry said. "Whether it was the St. John's defense or inability to make shots, we missed a whole bunch.''
Tech missed 40 of 60, shooting 33 percent. St. John's was marginally better. "I think both of us were extremely sloppy,'' Barnes Arico said.
But one them, St. John's, also was extremely happy.
- - - - - -
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/college-basketball/st-john-s-women-beat-texas-tech-advance-1.2771159
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Special to Newsday
STANFORD, Calif -- Kim Barnes Arico was aware of what was happening. Yes, the fans were screaming. No, it wasn't for the coach's St. John's women's basketball team.
With a few seconds remaining in what wound up a 55-50 win for the Red Storm over Texas Tech Saturday in an NCAA Tournament first-round game, the growing crowd at Maples Pavilion let loose.
"You mean those cheers weren't for us?'' Barnes Arico joked.
She added, "I started to look around. I'm not naive enough not to know what was happening.''
There on the video board, the Stanford team was emerging from its locker room to face UC Davis in the second game, which it won easily. Stanford will host St. John's in the second round Monday night at Maples, the campus arena.
"You face that situation when you're playing Connecticut,'' Barnes Arico said about the crowd reaction. "That's the women's game, playing on the home court of an opponent in the tournament. Maybe we'll catch them on an off night, and maybe we'll have a phenomenal night.''
The Storm (22-10) wasn't phenomenal, but it was effective. Trailing 30-28 at intermission, St. John's opened the second half with an 8-0 run. Tech didn't get a point for the first 4 minutes, 32 seconds.
Then, after Tech (22-11) tied it at 36 with 10:46 left, St. John's ran off nine straight points in three-plus minutes. At that point, Texas Tech was 4-for-22 from the floor in the second half.
"I thought our defense was really exceptional,'' Barnes Arico said. "And even though we were undersized compared to Texas Tech, we outrebounded them.''
That they did, 47-40, with Da'Shena Stevens grabbing 11.
Sophomore point guard Nadirah McKenith, injured so often earlier in the season with concussions, an ankle sprain and a bruised thumb, led St. John's with 14 points and four assists. She also had seven rebounds.
"Only the last month has she been able to practice,'' Barnes Arico said. "She does everything. Down the stretch, she got two key rebounds and made her free throws.''
Said sophomore guard Eugeneia McPherson, who starred at North Babylon, "Having Nadirah on our team is an honor. She'll throw passes that I or anyone won't see. She's always ready to make a pass.''
Both the St. John's men and women had to cross the country, or most of it. The men played their NCAA first-rounder in Denver, two time zones west of New York, and lost to Gonzaga. The women traveled three time zones, which Barnes Arico said she attempted to downplay.
"St. John's looked more comfortable than we did,'' Tech coach Kristy Curry said. "Whether it was the St. John's defense or inability to make shots, we missed a whole bunch.''
Tech missed 40 of 60, shooting 33 percent. St. John's was marginally better. "I think both of us were extremely sloppy,'' Barnes Arico said.
But one them, St. John's, also was extremely happy.
- - - - - -
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/college-basketball/st-john-s-women-beat-texas-tech-advance-1.2771159
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Reader Comments (11)
Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
Thank you for share very good knowledges. Your web is very goodI am impressed by the information that you have on this blog. It shows how well you understand this subject. Bookmarked this page, will come back for more. You, my friend, ROCK! I found just the information I already searched everywhere and just couldn’t find. What a perfect site. Like this website your website is one of my new favs.I like this data presented and it has given me some sort of commitment to succeed for some reason, so keep up the good work!
Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. Numerous people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog. An excellent read. I'll definitely be back.
Its Pleasure to realize your blog.The over content is relatively extraordinary, and I really enjoyed reading your blog and points that you just expressed. I incredibly like to glimpse back over a regular basis,post additional from the topic.Thanks for sharing…keep writing!
This article is more than interesting. You have written this in such a unique way that I read it and stayed interested. I agree with the points in your material.
I'll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)
Simply wish to say your article is as astounding. The clarity on your post is just nice and that i can suppose you're knowledgeable in this subject. Well together with your permission allow me to snatch your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thank you 1,000,000 and please keep up the gratifying work.
Truly informative article.Really searching forward to read more. Fantastic.
Absolutely pent written content , thankyou for entropy.