With six and a half minutes remaining in the first half Tuesday night, the Golden Eagles trailed St. John's by one point as Carolyn Kieger brought the ball up the floor.

The senior point guard attempted a pass to freshman guard Krystal Ellis that was knocked away by Red Storm guard Kia Wright.

Kieger and Wright simultaneously dove for the ball as it bounced out of bounds. The referee signaled it was St. John's ball, and the Red Storm hit a three-pointer on the following possession.

"The players were hyped up," said head coach Terri Mitchell. "It's okay to be hyped up as long as you remain focused."

A first half marred with foul trouble, forced passes and even a shot-clock violation would imply that focus may have been an issue for the Golden Eagles early in their first-ever Big East Conference basketball game.

After ending the first half on a 7-1 run, St. John's scored nine unanswered points coming out of the break.

With just over 17 minutes remaining in the game, the Red Storm led by 17 points, but for some reason, Marquette seemed unaffected.

"The one thing we always preach is that you're never out of it," Mitchell said.

So Mitchell encouraged. And then she watched as her players did the rest.

Down 43-32 with 14 minutes to play, Kieger inbounded the ball underneath her team's basket to junior forward Christina Quaye.

Quaye cut to the hole, laid in the shot and drew the foul. Her converted free-throw brought the Golden Eagles to within eight points of the Red Storm.

"We knew we weren't going to get it all back at one time," Kieger said. "No one panicked."

On St. John's ensuing possession, Quaye grabbed a defensive rebound and surveyed her surroundings.

Looking to run a fast-break, Kieger called for the ball, but Quaye shook her head and waited for everyone else to clear away up-court before passing to her point guard.

"You've just got to know the pace of the game," Quaye said. "Sometimes, you just need to pull it back and relax."

Kieger set up the half-court offense and called a play that ended with junior forward Danielle Kamm hitting a jumper to bring Marquette to within six points of the lead.

When Quaye made a pair of free-throws to tie the game 51-51 with just under five minutes remaining, it was the Red Storm who were searching for some encouragement.

Marquette trailed 57-55 with 1:27 to go when Kieger stepped to the free-throw line.

First shot… no good.

"When I missed, I tried to think that it was okay because I had one more to shoot," Kieger said. "I just tried to focus on the next (shot)."

Second shot… all good.

A Kamm three-pointer and another Kieger free-throw later, the Golden Eagles held a lead they had worked for too hard to relinquish.

"Over the course of 40 minutes, we did what we needed to do," Mitchell said. "It was good for our fans to see that we're a team that will never quit."