QUEENS, N.Y. – Butler and St. John's battled for 45 minutes on Friday night inside Carnesecca Arena. There were 13 ties and 13 lead changes in a back and forth contest that ended with the home team coming out on top in overtime 85-80.
 
Katherine Strong was outstanding for Butler with 21 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double and Kristen Spolyar led all players with 28 points. Butler had four players reach a double figure total as Shae Brey and Genesis Parker also chipped in with 10 points each.
 
St. John's found the win column behind 20 points from Alissa Alston. The senior went 10-for-10 from the free throw line. The charity stripe was huge in the fourth quarter with St. John's making all 14 of their attempts to move the game into overtime. The Johnnies ended the contest shooting 29-for-31 from the line.
 
The Bulldogs opened the game on a 7-0 scoring run to own a 17-12 lead after the first quarter. BU hit four of their first six shots to build their advantage. The Johnnies made just one of their first six attempts and saw their star player, Qadasha Hoppie, pick up her second personal foul early in the first. Butler faced adversity as well with Spolyar and Oumou Toure earning two personal fouls in the opening quarter.
 
St. John's went to Kadaja Bailey for offense with Hoppie sidelined. Bailey scored the first seven points of the second quarter for the home team to push her total to 10. St. John's got back within one point at the media timeout 20-19 and a triple from Alissa Alston out of the break would give STJ their first lead of the game.
 
Katherine Strong responded with a score to knot the game at 22-22. That field goal was the start of an 8-0 BU scoring run that helped the Bulldogs post a 28-25 lead at the half.
 
Hoppie returned to the floor in the third and scored five-straight for St. John's to tie the game at 35-35. Spolyar and Strong combined for 25 of Butler's 35 points at the third quarter media timeout.
 
The first bench points for the Bulldogs came courtesy of Upe Atosu and her drive to tie the game at 41-41 with just over two minutes to play in the third. Alisha Kebbe would hit a pair of free throws however with just one second on the game clock to give STJ the three-point edge heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
The fourth quarter wouldn't be enough to separate the two evenly matched teams. Butler looked to be in control with a 9-0 scoring run in the fourth to grab a 60-54 lead with 2:19 left, but the Johnnies would come back to tie the game at 62-62 with 1:10 remaining.
 
One of the biggest shots of the night belonged to Strong as her triple from the top of the key gave Butler a 67-64 advantage with 39.3 seconds left. Alston would answer once again for St. John's with a driving layup to send the game into OT.
 
Strong continued to attack the basket and was responsible for the first four points of the extra period. Leilani Correa would counter with five-straight for STJ to give the home team a 79-78 lead. Free throws down the stretch were huge and the Red Storm would hit 10 conference wins at the final buzzer 85-80.
 
Butler will drive to South Orange, N.J. tonight in preparation for their 1 PM Sunday contest at Seton Hall. Watch the game live on BEDN.