Second half surge lifts Red Storm pass the Bison
Written by Julee O'Neal, W. Basketball, Broadcast Journalism '13
QUEENS, New York--- November 30--- Tamoria Holmes finished with a game high of 16 points, while Saadia Doyle captured her fourth straight double-double with 11 points and 10 boards, as the Lady Bison fell 63-48 to St. John's.
Nicole Deterville pulled down nine off the glass in 32 minutes of action. With the loss, Howard drops to 1-5 on the season.
To start the match, SJU threw the first punch with a made lay-up by Nadirah McKenith. The Lady Bison held their composure and scored their first bucket from Kara Smith at the 18:39 mark. By the first media-timeout, Howard trailed, 6-5. Following the timeout, HU forced a Red Storm turnover and took its first lead, 8-6, with a three-pointer by Zykia Brown. With just under 11 minutes left in the first period, the score was tied at 10-10.
As the Red Storms struggled to make outside shots, HU captured the advantage again with a traditional three-point play by Holmes. Howard continued to push the spread, going into the locker room with a 27-21 margin.
Halftime Notes: HU scored eight points from eight SJU turnovers. Howard's bench outscored the Red Storm bench, 10-5. St. John's dominated with 16 points to Howard's four in the paint. They also held an advantage on the boards, 24-22, while also shooting 30 percent from the field (9-30) and 60 percent from the free throw line (3-5). Howard went 80 percent from the charity stripe (4-5), 25 percent from the three-point line (3-12), and 30 percent from the field (10-33).
To start the second half, the Red Storm opened up scoring at the 19:20 mark. From there, both teams exchanged buckets over a six-plus minutes. HU maintained its lead until a Tesia Harris basket at the 11:46 allowed SJU to regain the lead since the 16:30 mark of the first stint. From there, it was no looking back as they outscored the Lady Bison 22-12 to end the game, 63-48.
St. John's had three players finish in double-figures. Eugeneia McPherson was tied for game high with 16 points. McKenith finished with 13 points and five assists. Shenneika Smith tallied a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Game Notes: Howard was outscored 34-10 in the paint. Howard shot 30 percent (18-59) from the field, 33 percent (5-15) from behind the arc and 53 percent (7-13) from the free throw line. St. John's scored 17 points from 14 HU turnovers. SJU shot 43 percent (23-53) from the field, 16 percent from the three (2-12) and 75 percent (15-20) from the charity-stripe. The Lady Bison was out rebounded by 2, 40-38 and was outscored 14-10 from the bench.
HU will begin conference play with its home opener against Coppin St. on Dec 3. Tip off is set for 2 p.m.