Torch Photo / Sara Kiernan
St. John’s Women’s Basketball team took a big hit on Friday night, 51-71, to the ranked No. 20 Creighton Bluejays.
This game was the team’s annual Pink Game, bringing awareness to breast cancer and recognizing survivors. During warmups, the team wore PlayforKay on the back of their t-shirts, for the Kayyow foundation.
The Kayyow Foundation was started in honor of Coach Kay Yow who battled breast cancer on and off till her passing in 2009. PlayforKay is one of the ways that the foundation raises money to help find a cure for cancer and to celebrate survivors.
Dressed in pink, redshirt senior Unique Drake started the game off with a three-pointer. After this, it was a back-and-forth quarter with Creighton able to keep the lead 19-13 over the Johnnies.
Going into the second quarter, easy shots were just not going in for the Johnnies as the Bluejays took control with Creighton senior guards Morgan Maly and Lauren Jensen going on a 15-2 run. The Johnnies went 4-13 on field goals and missed every attempted three-point shot.
At the half, the Johnnies were down 36-23.
The third quarter saw the women cut down the deficit to only eight points, scoring 20 in the quarter. It seemed like they had hit their stride, with senior guard Ber’Nyah Mayo getting multiple fast breaks and graduate forward Jillian Archer finishing the quarter with a layup.
In the final quarter, the Bluejays responded with a run of 15-3 to establish the largest lead of the night. Out of the 11 turnovers the Johnnies had, six of them happened in the final quarter. These little mistakes added up, contributing to the 20-point difference in the final score.
Even with a loss, Mayo was able to get her 10th double-double in the last 11 games, scoring 16 points on 6 of 11, five rebounds and two assists.
As the season is quickly coming to an end and the Big East tournament right around the corner, Tartamella is focusing on the present.
“[Mayo] played really well for us here in the last month and a half. And that’s been a reason why we’ve certainly done better,” head coach Joe Tartamella said about Mayo’s performance.
“I worry about the next game,” Tartamella stated. “But do I think we can compete with everybody?”
The team will head to Washington D.C. to face off against Georgetown on Feb. 20. After a nail-biting victory vs. the Hoyas, the Red Storm look to sweep the regular season series.
