March 8, 2008

Box Score

HARTFORD, Conn. - The St. John's women's basketball team played Louisville close in the first half, but the Red Storm could not match the effort of Angel McCoughtry's 19 second-half points and lost, 63-47, to the Cardinals in the first round of the BIG EAST Championship on Saturday night.

Monique McLean was the lone double-figure scorer for St. John's with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Freshman Sky Lindsay finished second on the team with nine points, going 3-of-8. On the defensive side, eight of 10 players recorded at least one rebound, with Recee Mitchell leading the squad with five boards.

Overall, UofL (22-8) was strong throughout the entire game and shot 50.0 percent, including a 66.7 performance in the second half. Despite only shooting 27.3 in the first frame, the Red Storm matched up well with Louisville, as the score was tied five times and the lead changed hands on four occasions. St. John's (16-14) played the Cardinals even for the beginning of the second half, but in the end could not match up to its opponent's shooting percentage, only averaging 33.3 in the final frame (30.8 overall).

The Louisville offense started the game strong and took an early eight-point lead, 14-6. The Cardinals capitalized on .a struggling St. John's offense that only recorded one field goal in the opening eight and a half minutes. However, as quickly as the Louisville offense got into sync, it slowed, and the Red Storm surged, going on a 10-1 run to take a 16-15 lead. Kelly McManmon sparked the run by draining a 3-pointer at 11:08.

The game remained close and the score was tied four times before Louisville went up 23-21 with 23 seconds to go in the half.

Out of the break, both teams continued to match each other point-for-point. The Cardinals started pulling away from STJ and took a nine point advantage, 47-38. Louisville continued to score and the Red Storm could not counter. McCoughtry was the difference maker, as she scored 19 points in the second half. St. John's neutralized McCoughtry early in the frame by getting her to pick up her third foul, however when she checked back into the game she was an offensive force. She finished the contest with 25 points (9-of-13).