The St. John’s Women’s Basketball team began their season with an impressive 81-44 victory over the Long Island University sharks in their season home-opener.
Led by reigning Big East Coach of the Year Joe Tartamella, the Johnnies enter the season with big expectations after their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016. The Johnnies go into the season with a completely retooled roster, having eight new faces occupying the bench.
Tartamella debuted a new starting five with senior guards Unique Drake and Ber’Nyah Mayo occupying the back court. Graduate students Amber Brown and Jillian Archer were down on the low block at the forward positions and sophomore guard Jailah Donald getting her first start for the Johnnies rounded out the starting lineup.
The first quarter got off to a rocky start with a few costly turnovers from the Johnnies resulting in points on the other end. The team quickly regained focus as captain Jillian Archer scored four consecutive points, including an emphatic and-one to give the Johnnies an early lead.
Turnovers continued to plague the Johnnies as the Sharks took advantage of empty possessions and careless passes leading to a four-point swing giving LIU the lead. Redshirt senior and former Big East Sixth Woman of the year Unique Drake stopped the bleeding, getting the Johnnies two points at the line and ending the quarter with a one-point deficit at 13-12.
The second quarter began with a bang, as Archer scored another resounding and-one. Archer then converted the free throw giving the Johnnies a two-point lead. LIU quickly answered when senior guard Ashley Austin scored a three swinging the lead back to the Sharks.
Jailah Donald answered with a gigantic three-pointer, giving St. John’s the lead once again. After that massive shot, the Johnnies ran away and didn’t look back with stellar play on defense leading to fast break buckets and free points from the line.
Torch Photo / Sara Kiernan
The Johnnies closed out the quarter scoring 23 unanswered points, going into the half holding a commanding 42-20 lead. St. John’s also held leads in most major statistics as well: shooting 46.2% from the field compared to LIU’s 33.3%, turning the ball over 15 times to the Sharks’ nine and the bench unit scoring 11 points to LIU’s four.
Donald set the tone going into the second half with a massive block and scoring off the fast break increasing the lead to 24 points. The Red Storm continued to roll as the Sharks had no answer on offense, continuing to trade points and give up the ball leading to more scoring opportunities for the Johnnies.
Even when shots were missing the Johnnies still managed to create their own looks as sophomore guard Tara Daye corralled two offensive rebounds in back to back possessions leading to five second chance points including a Unique Drake three-pointer that increased the lead to 30 points.
St. Johns maintained this substantial lead with the third quarter ending 57-32.
Drake opened up the fourth quarter by scoring three straight three-pointers within the first four minutes of play. This shooting barrage had the Johnnies up by as much as 44 points. This offensive outburst ended the starters’ days. The Johnnies biggest performers were Drake who totaled 27 points and five made three pointers in total and Jillian Archer who had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Sharks chipped off points but it was too little too late as the Johnnies secured the victory of 81-44 in a statement win to open the season. For the final box score: the Johnnies shot 50% with the Sharks shooting 33%, they turned the ball over only once in the second half ending the game with 16 while LIU had 23 turnovers and St. John’s second unit scored 25 points to LIU’s 15.
The Johnnies continue their season heading to Monmouth on Nov. 10.
