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St. John’s senior preseason All Big-East forward Da’Shena Stevens is going to miss the first four to six weeks of the season due to a knee injury suffered in the offseason, the women’s basketball team revealed in a press release.

“She’s a little banged up here and she’s going to miss the beginning of the season. but I really think that’s made her more focused and more determined for things to come,” said head coach Kim Barnes Arico.

Stevens, a two-time All-Big East player who was the 2009 Big East Freshman of the Year will be tough to replace on the court. She is No. 11
on St. John’s all-time career scoring list with 1,243 points. She is also number six on St. John’s all time rebounding charts with 673 boards.

St. John’s is going to have to finda way to keep that production in the way of backups stepping up and filling in for the first part of the year.
Stevens was second on the team in scoring last year with 11.8 points per game, and led the team with 6.4 rebounds per game.

“I think it’s going to be a while, at least until the beginning of December (when she comes back) so I’m not sure how many games that is,” said Barnes Arico. “She’s going back to the doctor here in about a week and a half and hopefully we’ll have more information at that time.”

Redshirt sophomore forward Mary Nwachukwu, a transfer from Boston College, is in the mix to start in place of Stevens to begin the season along with junior Jennifer Blanding and sophomore Zakiyyah Shahid Martin.

St. John’s opens their season on Nov. 12 against St. Bonaventure.