St. John’s basketball cannot solve Marquette defense in final quarter

St. John’s basketball could not respond from its most recent loss at home against Marquette. 

After a lopsided loss against No. 19 DePaul on __, the St. John’s basketball program looked to respond against Marquette at home on Sunday afternoon.

The two teams traded punches for a majority of the afternoon, but the Red Storm could not respond in the fourth quarter and solve the Golden Eagles’ defense.

Marquette would hold the Johnnies to just 12 points in the final ten minutes, outscoring St. John’s by eight points and moving on to win, 72-61.

“I think we were taking quick shots that affected our ability to score and had some shot selection that hurt us throughout the course of the game. We weren’t able to get the ball to the rim and get inside to manufacture points at the free throw line,” head coach Joe Tartamella said.

St. John’s was 5-of-17 from the field, 1-of-7 from 3-point territory, and 1-of-2 from the free throw line in the final quarter was Marquette was 8-of-13 from the floor.

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The Red Storm had no answer for the Golden Eagles’ senior guard Selena Lott who posted 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting while Chloe Marotta went for 11 points and 14 rebounds in the victory.

“She [Lott] plays with a certain intensity that you need to have, and she is a veteran player,” Tartamella explained, “She can do a couple different things from a scoring standpoint and she was aggressive today. We were not up to the task to match that intensity and she was able to score in ways that we were not able to help ourselves.”

Marquette was able to dominate the glass, out-rebounding the Johnnies, 42-24, and gathered 14 offensive rebounds, resulting 16 second chance points and 46 points in the paint.

St. John’s basketball with very challenging times ahead

After its home loss, the Red Storm will hit the road for a three-game road trip, beginning Wednesday against Seton Hall.

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St. John’s is no stranger to long road trips but life away from Carnesecca Arena has not been kind to the Johnnies, after it dropped all four of its games on a four-game road trip from December 10 to December 19.

Qadashah Hoppie led St. John’s with 15 points on Sunday afternoon while Leilani Correra and Raven Farley ended with 11 points.

Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00pm EST between the Red Storm and Pirates inside Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, New Jersey.