March 26, 2012
“What you created here is magic,” Head
Coach Kim Barnes Arico told St. John’s University’s
women’s basketball team before their first-ever Sweet 16 game on
March 24. “Let’s keep it going.”
Despite a
record-breaking season that drew national attention, the
Red Storm’s magic did not prevail against No. 2 Duke. St.
John’s fell to the Blue Devils by a score of 74-47 in Fresno,
CA.
The Red Storm scored the first bucket and maintained an early
lead. But they lost momentum by the end of the first half. With
five points and two assists by Duke’s senior guard Shay Selby, the
taller Blue Devils were 13 points ahead early in the second half,
quickly acheiving a 20-point lead.
Expressing pride in “the best season for our program in its
history,” Coach Barnes Arico said Duke “played exceptionally well”
and wished the Blue Devils success as they move forward to the
Elite Eight.
“We came out of the gates great,” Coach Barnes Arico observed.
“They switched up their defense, and that gave us some problems.”
She also cited Duke’s “ability to score from multiple positions”
and “forced turnovers, which caused some easy baskets for them and
took us out of our game.”
“I think we just came out of momentum and lost it,” said senior
forward
Da’Shena Sevens. “The turnovers really hurt us.” Stevens scored
19 points in her final game for St. John’s.
Junior guard
Nadirah McKenith pulled down 11 rebounds and had eight assists.
McKenith made the winning, coast-to-coast basket against Creighton
on March 18.
St. John’s run in the 2012 NCAA Tournament marked many firsts
for the women’s team. This was the first time they were selected as
a No. 3 seed. In addition, Coach Barnes Arico — now in her 10th
season — became the program's “winningest” coach on Feb. 12, when
the Red Storm defeated then-No 17/16 Rutgers by 61-52.