Box Score
QUEENS, N.Y. – The Butler women's basketball team traveled to New York to face the St. John's Red Storm on Friday night. The action at Carnesecca Arena ended with the home team claiming a 62-55 victory.
Tori Schickel led all players with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bulldogs cut a six-point halftime deficit down to just two midway through the fourth quarter, but the Johnnies would connect from the charity stripe to hold off the late charge. St. John's won the free throw battle by hitting 21-of-28 from the line compared to Butler's 17-for-21. That along with 3-point shooting would separate a pair of teams that hit exactly the same amount of field goals in all four quarters.
The game got off to a fast start with Jade Walker and
Tori Schickel exchanging blows in the paint. Schickel didn't see a double team over the opening 10 minutes and would respond with 10 points off just five shot attempts. She was extremely efficient in the contest by ending the game 9-for-10 from the field in 40 minutes of action.
Helping Schickel carry the scoring load for Butler would be freshman
Sydney Shelton and sophomore
Michelle Weaver. Shelton did a majority of her damage in the opening stages of the game. She scored seven of her 14 points in the first quarter while also adding Butler's only two 3-point field goals. Weaver was the opposite in that she scored 11 of her 13 points in the fourth.
St. John's was able to counter the BU trio by using a balanced scoring attack. Four of the five Red Storm starters reached a double figure scoring total with Walker and point guard Aaliyah Lewis sharing the team lead with 16 points. Lewis just missed a double-double by adding eight assists.
The entertaining first quarter ended with Andrayah Adams scoring the final five points of the quarter for STJ. Adams hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Johnnies a one-point lead, but the game would turn in the opening moments of the second with STJ going on a 7-0 scoring run. St. John's won the quarter 11-6 which would turn out to be a huge component to the final outcome.
Neither offense could really get anything going in the third as each team posted 10 points in 10 minutes of play. Butler cut the lead to just two at 46-44 with 5:08 to play in the fourth, but they wouldn't get any closer as St. John's held on for their 14th win of the year. With the loss, Butler moves to 5-16 overall and 2-8 in conference.
Butler will now shift their focus to Seton Hall. The Pirates host the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at Walsh Gym. Tip-off on BEDN is slated for 2 PM.
