St. John’s 82, Marquette 72
Team Leaders
Points: Natisha Hiedeman (19)
Rebounds: Danielle King, Allazia Blockton (9)
Assists: Amani Wilborn (4)
Shut out from deep
It took 24 minutes, 31 seconds and 11 missed shots before Marquette converted their first look deep. Midway through the third quarter, the ball found an open McKayla Yentz behind the arc. The shot was good, marking the Golden Eagles first and last triple of the game. The team finished a dismal 1-for-19 from behind the arc (5.6 percent) in what was their worst shooting performance of the season.
“We had great looks,” head coach Carolyn Kieger said. “We hit them the other night. Maybe it was the flow, maybe it was the confidence. But you gotta keep shooting.”
St. Johns, on the other hand, finished with a solid 9-for-17 from deep, fueled by a 6-for-9 outburst from reserve guard Andrayah Adams.
Danielle King, Double-Double Threat
In the first ten minutes of the game, guard Danielle King pulled down three rebounds, matching her per-game average. It was completely unnoticeable and not noteworthy, a basketball oddity that saw the flow of the game bounce the ball into the hands of the shortest player on the court.
By half time, King picked up two more. Nothing remarkable had happened, but attentive box stat observers had something to take note of.
In the third quarter, King pulled down another three rebounds, and moved into double-double DEFCON-5 watch.
With eight boards, Marquette’s 5-foot-5-inch point guard lead all players in rebounds headed into the fourth quarter. For perspective, Marquette’s Erika Davenport, the BIG EAST’s second best missed-shot magnet, only had four rebounds through three quarters, and St. John’s Imani Littleton, a 6-foot-3-inch willow tree, only had six.
King didn’t quite get the double-double, but finished with a nonetheless impressive 12 points and nine rebounds.
Basketball is a two-way street
St. John’s is a defensive powerhouse, leading the BIG EAST in points allowed per game (just 54.2). Their long, tall, and quick players mucked up Marquette’s half-court offense, forming a wall around the perimeter and allowing very little inside. Putting up points was supposed to be the hard part for the Golden Eagles. Tonight, however, an inability to prevent points is what ultimately lost Marquette the game.
The Red Storm finished the game shooting an even 50 percent from the field and a dominant 52.9 percent from deep. Senior forward Jade Walker notched 19 points to go along with Adam’s 27.
“(We wanted to) double-team Walker, and obviously that didn’t work very well,” Kieger said. “One thing we just talked about is we got to follow the scout better. We got beat on the same play I think about fifteen times. So that’s something we’ll obviously fix and adjust to.”
