The St. John’s Women’s Basketball program began its 50th season with dominance as they cruised to a convincing 80-39 win against the Saint Peter’s Peacocks.

Head Coach Joe Tartamella enters his 13th season at the helm for the Red Storm and returning with him are eight veteran players and six new recruits to round out the roster. After an 18-15 record last season and a disappointing exit in the first round of the Big East Tournament, St. John’s hopes to find balance between the returnees and fresh faces to build off a lackluster season. 

Tartamella employed a smothering full-court press in the opening minutes of the season as junior guard Tara Daye was used to monitor Saint Peter’s guards inbounding. 

Regarding this bold opening gambit, Tartamella still sees room for improvement if the press should become a recurring strategy throughout the season.

“I think with the personnel we have and the depth we have, we feel like we have the ability to do it,” Tartamella said after the game. “We’ve gotta get a lot better at it, but you can see the potential in how we can play.”

This tactic resulted in Daye’s first basket of the season, she picked off a pass and finished through contact for an and-one, giving the Johnnies an opening 7-6 lead.

St. John’s guards continued to impact the game in a major way during this first quarter, senior guard Lashae Dwyer made her presence known in her Red Storm debut. The former Miami transfer ended the quarter scoring five points on a 7-0 team drive thanks to a crafty layup and three-ball on back-to-back possessions. St. John’s led 22-13 after the first quarter.

From that point on, St. John’s took their manageable lead and ran away with it. 

Another new transfer — graduate student guard Ariana Vanderhoop — opened the scoring floodgates in the second quarter when she delivered a three-pointer in the first two minutes of play. She finished the game with 14 points and one rebound.

Defensive chaos created by the press, with lockdown interior defense from Daye and senior forward Phoenix Gedeon caused 19 overall Peacock turnovers in the first half — resulting in a staggering amount of fastbreak scoring opportunities for the Red Storm. 

St. John’s scored 26 unanswered points in an unbelievable run across nine minutes of play to finish up the second quarter. Saint Peter’s first basket came at the free-throw line with .44 seconds left, ending the half down 46-16.

At the half, the Johnnies possessed commanding leads in all statistics — including a 22-3 advantage in points off turnovers, 24-2 points in the paint and 20 points from the bench to the Peacock’s five.

This Red Storm dominance continued well into the second half when the lead eventually climbed to over 40 points.

St. John’s biggest contributors, Dwyer and Vanderhoop, were both sent to the bench in the third quarter. Dwyer was the game’s leading scorer with 16 points on 7-11 shooting from the field and Vanderhoop hit four threes.

In practice, Vanderhoop’s shooting has been a major point of emphasis for herself and Tartamella. 

“Everybody wants a coach that yells at you to shoot the ball,” Vanderhoop said after the game. “I’ve definitely been working on it in practice and it looks great.”

The impressive guard play from Vanderhoop, junior Skye Owen (7 pts., 1 reb., 3 ast.) and freshman A’riel Little (6 pts., 3 rebs., 2 ast.) off the bench unit was no surprise for Tartamella.

“Our second team has beaten up our first team,” Tartamella said.  “Whoever’s out there starting the game is, I think, is going to change all year.”

St. John’s rolled through the Peacocks and won by a monumental 41 points at an 80-39 final score. The Johnnies held supremacy in the box score the entire game, as they scored 34 points off of 27 Saint Peter’s turnovers. St. John’s scored 43 bench points to the Peacocks’ 11.

St. John’s is set for a three-game road trip all over the East Coast, with the first stop being in Brooklyn against Long Island University on Nov. 8.