St. John’s shot 60.3 percent from the field on its way to a 96-86 road victory over DePaul in Saturday afternoon’s Big East Conference clash at McGrath-Phillips Arena.
The Red Storm improves to 10-5 overall and 3-1 in conference and has now won five of its last six games, while DePaul drops to 11-5 overall and 2-1 in Big East play.
Sophomore guard Aliyyah Handford scored 21 points to post her sixth 20-plus scoring performance of the season and sophomore Danaejah Grant tied her season high for the second game running with 16 points to lead St. John’s multi-pronged attack.
Senior captain Briana Brown added 14 points, junior forward Amber Thompson posted her third double-double in four games with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Eugeneia McPherson chipped in with 11 points and a career-high eight assists.
“I’m very proud of our team tonight,” said St. John’s head coach Joe Tartamella. “We played a fantastic first half which I thought set up the opportunity for us to win the game. I thought we did some things in the second half that we have to clean up, however, this is a very difficult place to play.”
After shooting a robust 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the first half, the Red Storm outdid itself in the second 20 minutes, making a scorching 67.7 percent (21-of-31) of its attempts on its way to a 61-point second half.
St. John’s returns to Queens to host Butler on Wednesday, Jan. 15.