After successfully climbing back into a contest against Quinnipiac earlier in the week, the St. John’s women's basketball team continued its early season success with a win over Yale on Friday afternoon.
In its win over the Bobcats the Red Storm escaped a nine-point deficit with under seven minutes left to play, ending the contest in a 53-51 thriller, but on Friday, the Storm surged, leading for all 40 minutes of play in the 88-60 victory.
St. John’s (3-1) came out of the gates swinging in the first quarter, starting the opening five minutes on a 15-4 run, led by a strong offensive performance from Skye Owen. The Red Storm were matched by a fast-paced Bulldogs team, narrowing the score to 16-14 with two minutes remaining, before Beautiful Waheed splashed a three. Waheed was dominant to start the afternoon, taking three shots from beyond the arc, sinking all three of her attempts to finish with nine points in the quarter.
The freshman followed up her first double-digit performance with yet another dominant offensive showing, finishing with 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting, along with four rebounds and one assist.
“I feel like I put the work in during practice. I work on my jump shot, my teammates share the ball with me well, so I can get the shots off,” said Waheed following her second straight double-digit performance.
What worked so well for the Red Storm was forcing turnovers, something they saw much success with in their opening contest of the season against Le Moyne. The Johnnies forced six turnovers in the first quarter alone, finishing the contest with 20 forced, matching their season high.
The turnovers allowed St. John’s to score 28 points, compared to a silenced 14 from Yale.
“Our energy level was much better,” said Tartamella. “We were able to defend and turn the turnovers into points, compared to the previous games where we got the points but didn’t follow through.”
Tartamella’s squad again continued with dominance, opening the first three minutes of the second quarter with a 6-0 run. The Red Storm continued their dominance on the defensive end of the court, forcing five turnovers through the first five minutes and forcing Yale to consistently make mental errors.
The Bulldogs recorded their first points of the quarter with six minutes remaining, finishing with just 11 team points compared to 24 from St. John’s. The Red Storm entered the locker room with a 50-25 lead.
Yale (0-3) began the final quarter desperate to bring the score closer, playing fast-paced basketball on both ends of the court, but struggled all afternoon to play clean basketball.
As a team, the Johnnies shot 58-percent from the field while shooting 36-percent from beyond the arc, led by a 16-point performance from junior guard Brooke Moore. For the Bulldogs, it was the complete opposite, shooting 44-percent as a team and 28-percent from three.
“I’m glad we were able to be more organized today, " Tartemella explained.
With a promising start for St. John’s, the Red Storm will look to continue its success remaining at Carnesecca Arena for a contest with the No. 20 Oklahoma State Cowgirls (5-0), a matchup that could potentially earn Tartamella and his squad some national recognition.
"They’re a high-octane team that averages around 100 points a game scored. We will have to be on point. It will be a great test for us.”