March 5, 2005

Box Score

Queens, NY - The St. John's women's basketball team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2005 BIG EAST Tournament with 45-42 win over No. 9 seeded Seton Hall. The Red Storm advance past the first round for the first time since 2000 and will face the BIG EAST regular season champion and the No. 1 seed, Rutgers on Sunday at 2 pm.

Kia Wright (Copiague, NY) led all scorers with 21 points and d pulled down seven rebounds in the win for the Red Storm.

The game, which was tightly contested from the early minutes on, came down to the wire, as the two teams were deadlocked at 42 after Seton Hall's Courtney Ellis hit a jumper with 48 seconds remaining in regulation. St. John's was forced to use its final timeout, after they were unable to inbound the ball on the ensuing play with 39.2 seconds left, but after setting up a play, Wright was fouled driving to the basket. She missed the first, but sank the second to give St. John's a one-point edge with 32.5 to go in the game.

The Pirates' Asia Carroll missed a jumper on the next play and, after pulling down the rebound, Danielle Chambers (Brooklyn, NY) was fouled. Chambers missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity and after Seton Hall missed another go-ahead attempt, St. John's was awarded possession after a held ball on the rebound. After the inbounds pass on the next play, Kati Kurtosi (Miskolc, Hungary) was fouled, sank two free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining to put St. John's up by three. Ellis missed her last second game-tying three, and St. John's advanced.

In the first half, St. John's pulled out to a 12-7 lead with 12:33 remaining after Wright sank a three-pointer. Four minutes later, Greeba Barlow (Columbia, MD) scored five-straight points for the Red Storm, giving them a 19-11 advantage. Seton Hall closed out the final seven minutes of the period with an 11-4 run, including five-straight from Ellis to pull within one (23-22) at the break.

St. John's and Rutgers will tip-off tomorrow at 2 pm. The two teams have never faced each other in BIG EAST Tournament competition. Earlier this season, the Scarlet Knights topped the Red Storm 64-49 at Carnesecca Arena.