Danaejah Grant. Photo by: Stacy Podelski/1495 Sports
Coming off the team’s fifth win in its last six tries, the St. John’s Red Storm will close out the regular season on Sunday, traveling to Cincinnati, Ohio, for a 2 p.m. matinee with the Xavier Musketeers.
RED STORM QUICK HITS
- With a convincing 60-49 road win over Butler on Friday night, the Red Storm picked up its 20th win of the season. The win marked the second-straight season that the Red Storm has reached the 20-win plateau and the fifth time in the last six seasons overall.
- Following her 21-point, nine-rebound outburst against Butler, Aliyyah Handford upped her season-long point total to 569, passing her total of 567 from a year ago. 569 currently ranks as the sixth-best single-season total in program history, and Handford is within striking distance of the next few spots on the ledger. The second-leading scorer in the league at 20.3 points per game, Handford could very well pass Debbie Beckford (573 in 1981-82) and Tawana Jackson (579 in 1994-95) and move into fourth place on the single-season record list by the conclusion of Sunday’s contest.
- The Red Storm’s lone four-year player this year, Amber Thompson continued her season-long assault on the St. John’s record book on Friday against Butler. With 14 boards in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, Thompson boosted her season-long total to 316, breaking the single-season record that she set just one year ago (313). The all-time leading rebounder in St. John’s history, the Newark, N.J., native bumped her career total 1,030, opening up a first-place cushion of more than 160 boards over second place (Dianne Pugh- 868).
- With 487 points so far on the season, Danaejah Grant is just 13 points away from becoming the ninth player in St. John’s history to record 500 or more in a single season. Should she reach the mark, Grant would make 2014-15 only the second time in program history that a pair of teammates has each reached 500 in the same season (Aliyyah Handford has 569). The other occasion came in 1981-82, when Debbie Beckford (573) and Kerry Karst (542) led St. John’s to a 25-7 record.
- This season, the Red Storm has yet to lose a game in which it leads at the half. St. John’s is 15-0 when leading at the break and 1-0 when tied with the opposition. The Red Storm has also picked up four wins in games when trailing at the intermission.
SCOUTING XAVIER
- The Musketeers enter Sunday’s regular season finale with an overall record of 15-13 and a 7-10 mark in league play.
- Losers of four of their last five, the Musketeers have two players averaging in double figures. Junior forward Briana Glover leads the team at 10.9 points per game, while Raeshaun Gaffney checks in behind her at 10.0 points per outing.
- The Musketeers are pulling down just 37 rebounds per game this season, with no player averaging more than 5.1 per outing.
ST. JOHN’S VS. XAVIER- THE SERIES
- Sunday will mark the fourth meeting all-time between the Red Storm and the Musketeers, with St. John’s holding a 2-1 advantage in the series.
- The two teams split during Xavier’s first season in the BIG EAST in 2013-14, with each team claiming victory on its home floor.
- Earlier this season on Dec. 3, St. John’s handed Xavier a 65-42 loss at Carnesecca Arena in the BIG EAST opener for both teams. 42 points in the second-lowest point total to which St. John’s has held an opponent in BIG EAST play this season.
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