The St. John’s women’s basketball team opened their season with a dominant 81-44 win against the LIU Sharks at Carnesecca Arena.
It was a close contest in the first quarter that saw both clubs trade leads. However, the Red Storm would pull away in the second quarter, going on a massive 25-2 run, spearheaded by their strong defense that forced 11 missed shots from the Sharks throughout their run.
A big-time block by Jillian Archer on the Sharks’ Amaya Dowdy would help swing the game momentum in the way of the Red Storm.
They would finish the half on a massive 21-0 run, helped by some major buckets from Tara Daye and Skye Owen, finishing the first half with a 42-20 lead.
The second half would see more dominance from the Red Storm, who wouldn’t let their foot off the glass. Unique Drake, who recorded a career-high 27 points, scored 11 of those points on a perfect 4-for-4 in the fourth quarter.
Drake’s teammates also enjoyed productive nights. Jillian Archer recorded a double-double, notching 11 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Skye Owen had an impressive outing on both sides of the ball by dropping 12 points, six assists, three rebounds, and four steals. Freshman Jayda Brown logged 11 points (5-for-9) and three steals in her collegiate debut.
The Red Storm defense forced 23 turnovers and held the Sharks to just 32.7 percent shooting and a 15.8 percent mark from 3-point range.
Next game: Friday, November 10th @ Monmouth (0-1)
Joe Tartamella’s club looks to build momentum when they take on the Monmouth Hawks in South Jersey on Friday night at 7:00 p.m, which can be streamed on FloSports. In their season opener, the Hawks were narrowly defeated by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in New Brunswick by a score of 56-51. Senior guard Ariana Vanderhoop scored 14 points (3-for-9) and picked up 7 rebounds in the loss.