November 22nd, 2008: St. John's at Manhattan

St. John's Red Storm 63, Manhattan Jaspers 54

The Game Notes go on a road trip with their team, and Da'Shena Stevens puts on a show.


We should not be allowing MAAC teams to stay this close to us. It's not a good sign, especially if said MAAC team is not Iona or Marist, or even Fairfield.

In retrospect, I should have scouted the topography of the area before taking my mom and her titanium joints along for the ride; Manhattan's arena is located at the top of a hill, and the only ways up are a long series of stairs or a long spiral around the hill. It's a bit of a hike. The campus reminds me a lot of Princeton, in terms of the building style and layout, but it's a bit more forbidding- more fences. The gym itself is an unimpressive building, originally intended for indoor track but able to be partitioned so that it can host basketball or volleyball. Unlike most schools I've been to, they also have a banner celebrating their Olympians. That's cool.

I'm starting to notice a pattern with MAAC schools- they get bruising posts and small guards. It seems like a bit of a mismatch, but it makes sense. For the Jaspers, the bruising came from Kelly Regan and Lindsey Loutsenhizer. I like the freshman Loutsenhizer- good nose for the ball. Alicia Marculitis was listed as a center, but a lot of her points came from midrange jumpers- her stroke is quite sweet. So is Annie McIntyre's- she was bombing threes, and a couple of them were very deep. Alyssa Herrington had a great pass to Marculitis, or so say my notes. Michelle Pacheco was a fierce, penetrating guard who did a great job getting inside on us. Manhattan played us really tenaciously, with brutal defense. Hill's doing quite a job in Riverdale- but should I really be surprised?

We see you, Da'Shena Stevens! The freshman would not be denied- she finished with twenty points and someteen rebounds, along with a stupendous block. She was also involved in my favorite play of the game, one which was so awesome I remember it over a week later. Britney had forced Nicole Harrison to back it out with about seven seconds left on the shot clock and pass it out. Da'Shena hassled the recipient on the perimeter for another few seconds to bring it down to three or so and force her to pass it on. The pass wasn't great, and Coco leapt on it like her life depended on it. In the ensuing scrap, the shot clock expired. I'm such a sucker for defense, and for team play, so something that combines both? Damn. Monique was red hot in the first half, but disappeared for most of the second half. Coco had foul trouble, really couldn't get going. We got nothing out of the bench, really. Only six players even scored.

I think we were sitting near Da'Shena's family. If they were, then I salute them for their enthusiasm.

There's something about Manhattan's cheerleaders that reminded me of Fordham, but I can't put my finger on it. It may have been the signs.

And that's really about it. No one played really well, except for Da'Shena, and she was enough to put us over the top.