February 29, 2004

Box Score

New York, N.Y. - The St. John's women's basketball team made the most of the Madison Square Garden debut, as the beat Seton Hall 61-52 and clinched a spot in the 2004 BIG EAST Tournament, their first berth since the 2000-01 season. St. John's improves to 10-16 and 4-11 in the conference, the most wins under second year Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico in both categories and the most overall wins since the 1999-00 season. With the loss, Seton Hall falls to 14-12 overall and 6-9 in the BIG EAST.

The Red Storm defense, which forced 15 Seton Hall turnovers, played a major role late in the game in ending any chance of the Pirates spoiling the Red Storm's senior night.

The excitement surrounding the team's first-ever game at the World's Most Famous Arena showed early, as St. John's pulled out to a14-4 lead, after sinking four three pointers in the first five minutes of action. Six-straight points from the Pirates cut the lead to four, before Angie Clark (Copiague, N.Y.) squashed the run with a lay-up. Two plays later Kim MacMillan (Toms River, N.J.) continued the Red Storm's long-distance assault with another shot from downtown and Nora Gyuris (Pecs, Hungary) added a bucket to put St. John's on top, 21-12.

St. John's pulled out to their largest lead of the first half after a 6-0 run was capped by a jumper from MacMillan to put the Red Storm up by 14 with 2:11 remaining in the period. Seton Hall's LaNedra Brown hit a lay-up with 12 seconds remaining in the first to cut the Red Storm's halftime lead to 28-16.

Melissa Langelier's lay-up in the early minutes of the second half cut the lead to nine, but back-to-back baskets from Kati Kurtosi (Miskolc, Hungary) kept St. John's in control and left them back on top by 13. Danielle Chambers (Brooklyn, N.Y.) extended the Red Storm lead to 16 with just under 14 minutes remaining, before Seton Hall's Ashley Bush hit a jumper that sparked a Pirate comeback that saw them pull within eight when Ayanna Phillip sank a free throw with 4:18 remaining.

Gyuris' two free throws with 3:34 remaining put St. John's back up by 10, and the Red Storm's defense kept the Pirates at bay, holding on for the nine point win.

MacMillan led St. John's with 15 points, shooting 4-of-9 from the field. Shemika Stevens added 11 points and a game-high seven assists, while Kurtosi finished with 10 points and two blocks. Clark finished with a career-high 15 boards for the Red Storm. Bush led Seton Hall with 15 points.

The Red Storm will close out the BIG EAST regular season at Virginia Tech on Tuesday.