QUEENS, NY—St. John's junior guard Aliyyah Handford scored a game-high 17 points leading three double-figure scorers as the Red Storm took a 66-42 decision from visiting NJIT Sunday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena.
St. John's, one of 14 teams in the country remaining with a perfect record, improves to 9-0 on the season while the Highlanders drop their third straight contest, falling to 5-7 on the season.
Handford, who was selected to the 2014 Naismith Trophy Women's Top 50, the nation's most prestigious individual award, which was announced on December 10, finished the game with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. A graduate of Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, Handford shot 8-of-11 from the field in 28 minutes of action against her hometown's Division I program..
Junior guard Danaejah Grant, a preseason all-BIG EAST honoree, finished with 14 points and five rebounds while forward Jade Walker combined for 11 points in 21 minutes of action. Grant and Walker also hail from the Garden State, with Grant calling Piscataway home and Walker residing in Maplewood.
The Red Storm held a 37-to-24 advantage on the glass led by a game-high 7 rebounds from Amber Thompson, who is currently ranked fifth in the nation in rebounds per game (13.3rpg), as of December 11. Thompson, a senior for St. John's, graduated from Newark's University High School.
Sophomore forward
Leah Horton was the top scorer for the Highlanders with 13 points, followed by
Alana Dudley (8) and
Nicole Maticka (6). Point guard
Alyssa Albanese dished out a game-high 6 assists, raising the senior's NJIT DI assist career record to 283. Sophomore guard
Ronni Grandison paced the Highlanders on the boards with four rebounds.
The Highlanders scored the opening four points of the game, but the home team went on an 11-2 spurt to push ahead 11-6 at the 13:22 mark. NJIT cut the lead down to three, 11-8, after a bucket by
Martina Matejcikova with 13:09) left in the opening stanza.
St. John's scored back-to-back buckets for a 7-point advantage, 15-8, with 12:24 on the clock. NJIT's Maticka sank a jumper, cutting the lead to 5, 15-10, just under the 12-minute media timeout.
The Red Storm then pulled away with 11 straight points, surging to a 26-10 advantage with 6:32 remaining in the first period. NJIT's
Alana Dudley broke her team's drought with a three-pointer at the 6:13 mark.
NJIT later the deficit to 28-17 after a jumper in the paint by Albanese, but the Red Storm scored the final five points in the last 2:08 to lead 33-17 heading into the locker room at halftime.
St. John's shot 50 percent from the field (15-for-30) in the first half and was paced by Grant 's 14 points, followed by 11 by Handford . NJIT's top scorer in the first half was
Alana Dudley with 7.
The Red Storm increased its lead to 20+ in the opening five minutes of the second half and never looked back for a 66-42 victory.
NJIT, which will break for exams, returns to action on Friday at 7pm when the Highlanders visit Seton Hall. Seton Hall, another BIG EAST heavyweight, is 9-1 on the season. The Pirates will host Fairfield on Thursday before hosting the Highlanders the next night. The Pirates have won their last 8 contests.
The Highlanders, 0-2 all-time against Seton Hall, dropped a 74-48 decision last season, as the Pirates exploded for 49 first-half points, one more the Highlanders would get for the full game.
