Women's hoops takes opener
Matt Pascone
Issue date: 11/5/08 Section: Sports
November 16, 2008
The St. John's women's basketball team sent the fans home happy in their regular season opener.
In what was opening night at the newly-renovated Carnessecca Arena, the Red Storm defense was the key factor in their 70-52 victory over Northeastern.
"That's one of the things we stressed," head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. "We knew that we could pressure them, but pretty much the whole game we were able to lock them up, we thought our defensive pressure would really give them problems."
That defensive pressure came in all shapes and forms as the Red Storm showed full-court man-to-man pressure, full-court zone pressure and half-court man-to-man. Overall, their defense led to 16 Huskies turnovers and a team field goal percentage of 31 percent.
At times, the Red Storm looked a little sluggish as they turned the ball over 15 times and only shot 64 percent from the free throw line. That sluggishness was countered by a solid all around effort by forward Joy McCorvey. McCorvey had 15 points and 12 rebounds, both of which were game highs. In addition, she shot 7 for 10 from the field.
"It's all about being focused," McCorvey said. "The team had a lot of energy during shoot around, we were all focused, we were all ready. We just come out and we play and give it all you got and at the end of the game if you give it all you got you get good results."
In addition to McCorvey, the Red Storm had a very even scoring attack as Kelly McManmon netted 13 points, Sky Lindsay and Coco Hart dropped eight each and freshman Da' Shena Stevens added seven points and eight boards in her collegiate debut.
"It's funny because towards the end of the game I was thinking in my mind I don't know who led our team in scoring," Barnes Arico said. "I think that says a lot about our team."
Senior Monique McLean struggled in the first half as she had only points on two of five shooting, but she found her rhythm in the second half and finished the game with 13 points to go along with seven boards and four assists.
The St. John's women's basketball team sent the fans home happy in their regular season opener.
In what was opening night at the newly-renovated Carnessecca Arena, the Red Storm defense was the key factor in their 70-52 victory over Northeastern.
"That's one of the things we stressed," head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. "We knew that we could pressure them, but pretty much the whole game we were able to lock them up, we thought our defensive pressure would really give them problems."
That defensive pressure came in all shapes and forms as the Red Storm showed full-court man-to-man pressure, full-court zone pressure and half-court man-to-man. Overall, their defense led to 16 Huskies turnovers and a team field goal percentage of 31 percent.
At times, the Red Storm looked a little sluggish as they turned the ball over 15 times and only shot 64 percent from the free throw line. That sluggishness was countered by a solid all around effort by forward Joy McCorvey. McCorvey had 15 points and 12 rebounds, both of which were game highs. In addition, she shot 7 for 10 from the field.
"It's all about being focused," McCorvey said. "The team had a lot of energy during shoot around, we were all focused, we were all ready. We just come out and we play and give it all you got and at the end of the game if you give it all you got you get good results."
In addition to McCorvey, the Red Storm had a very even scoring attack as Kelly McManmon netted 13 points, Sky Lindsay and Coco Hart dropped eight each and freshman Da' Shena Stevens added seven points and eight boards in her collegiate debut.
"It's funny because towards the end of the game I was thinking in my mind I don't know who led our team in scoring," Barnes Arico said. "I think that says a lot about our team."
Senior Monique McLean struggled in the first half as she had only points on two of five shooting, but she found her rhythm in the second half and finished the game with 13 points to go along with seven boards and four assists.
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