St. John’s women see five-game streak snapped at Seton Hall

After a week lay-off from its previous game against Villanova, the St. John’s women’s basketball team saw its five-game winning streak end with a 62-57 loss at Seton Hall on Sunday.

The Red Storm had won five straight after starting Big East play 0-3. Sunday was just the second time since November 26 that the team was held to fewer than 60 points.

St. John’s (12-8, 5-4 Big East) had to overcome a slow start on the road at its cross-river rival, falling behind 7-0 in the first four and a half minutes of the game thanks to five straight misses and three turnovers.

Despite making just 7 of 29 shots from the floor in the first half, the Red Storm held the Pirates to nine points in the second quarter to cut their lead to 24-21 going into halftime.

The Red Storm then took its first lead of the game on an Alisha Kebbe 3-pointer four minutes into the third quarter. St. John’s led by as much as five on two occasions in the period, but Seton Hall responded both times to even the game at 41 going into the fourth. The Pirates used a 16-4 run to take a seven-point lead early in the final period.

Several turnovers did the Red Storm in as the team could only cut the Pirates’ lead to three in the waning minutes of regulation. St. John’s won the turnover battle 22-16, but Seton Hall did a better job taking advantage of the mistakes as the Pirates scored 17 points off turnovers to the Red Storm’s 12.

Kebbe led St. John’s hot-and-cold offense with 15 points and connected on three 3-pointers. Qadashah Hoppie scored 11 points but was just 1-for-6 from behind the arc. Andrayah Adams and Akina Wellere scored nine points each.

Maya Singleton grabbed 12 rebounds, but St. John’s leading scorer was just 1-of-8 from the field with six points, as the senior fell short of another double-double.

Tiana England was just 1-of-6 from the floor with three points and committed four turnovers. The Red Storm shot just 35 percent for the game.

For Seton Hall, Inja Butina and JaQuan Jackson led the way with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Kaela Hilaire had 10 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. The Pirates out-rebounded the Red Storm 40-34 and outscored the Johnnies in the paint 34-26.

The loss dropped the Red Storm into a three-way tie for third place in the Big East with Villanova and Butler, three games behind conference-leader Marquette.

St. John’s will look to bounce back on the road on Friday at Creighton and on Sunday at Providence. The Red Storm will host Seton Hall for their second meeting of the season on February 16 at Carnesecca Arena.