St. John's basketball struggling again after midseason surge

A Jillian Archer double-double was not enough as a cold fourth quarter clinched an eight-point loss, 51-43, to Georgetown (17-10, 7-9 Big East) on the road for the St. John's basketball team.

The graduate student had 10 points and 14 rebounds in the loss, but the Red Storm got off to a good start, outscoring the Hoyas 13-8 in the 1st quarter.

Jailah Donald hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to give the Johnnies the early lead, and St. John's would hold a 23-20 lead at halftime but would get outscored 31-20 in the second half.

Joe Tartamella's team would only score eight points in the final quarter, finishing the game 1-of-7 from the field. A game-high 21 points from Georgetown junior forward Brianna Scott pushed tje Hoyas to the finish line as the Johnnies were nearly outscored by double, 15-8, in the 4th.

Unique Drake continued her great play this season with 14 points.

The two sides split the season series after St. John's had won the previous six meetings between the two rivals.

With the loss, St. John's (15-13, 9-7 Big East) has now dropped four of its last five games following a winning streak that saw the Red Storm secure victories in 12 of 15 games after starting the season with losses in five of its first seven games.

After a home victory against Xavier on January 31, St. John's was 14-9 (8-3 Big East) and in 3rd place in the Big East standings.

Now, St. John's sit at fifth in the conference as the Johnnies will face Providence (12-16, 6-9 Big East) at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday (2:00 p.m. ET, FLOSPORTS) before finishing the regular season on the road against Marquette (20-6, 9-6 Big East) on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Sitting at No. 89 in the NET rankings with a handful of bad losses, the NCAA Tournament is extremely unlikely for St. John's this season. A bid into the WNIT, or newly created WBIT, is more likely.