December 22nd, 2015: Fairfield at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Red Storm's star guards came up big in their win over Fairfield. Aliyyah Handford had a game-high 22 points and six assists to go with seven rebounds, while Danaejah Grant had 16 points and eight rebounds. Casey Smith had 15 to lead the Stags.

For exhaustion, bad fiscal decisions, where did I put that Diet Coke, embarrassing shooting, speedy guards, Aliyyah's smile, and color matches, join your intrepid and baked-out blogger after the jump. Want a cookie?


It's too early for this. Whoever had the idea to have a basketball game at 2PM on a Tuesday the week of Christmas, thus ensuring that no one would be available to show up, should be keel-hauled. I'm here because I had vacation days left, but I was literally the first person in the stands and there are currently a grand total of four ticketholders in the building.

Liyyah decided to give us a scare by coming out late for warm-ups, but it was just a small medical issue. Kind of curious why she had to put the gloves on, but that's none of my business.

On top of everything else, today is Ugly Sweater Day, so everyone on staff is wearing Christmas sweaters ranging to the cutesy to OH GOD IS THAT ONE FLASHING. Ugly Sweater Day is a proud St. John's tradition, but if you're going to do it, do it on a day when people will show up. Which is not three days before Christmas in the afternoon.

Our gray is really too dark to be a home uniform. Technically, Fairfield's red is brighter.

All right, jerk with the dual Fairfield and Ohio State stickers in the rear window who was standing in the bus when the Q30 came in, you better be coming to the game. I mean, the Fairfield sticker gave away your loyalties and the Ohio State sticker was your jerk stamp, did you have to put the cherry on top by standing in the bus stop with a bus coming up your tailpipe?

Hello, dude in Michigan sweatshirt. Did Kim send you as a spy? Wait, that sounds too antagonistic.

Mom, it takes more than an hour to Jamaica from Park Slope, trust me on this one.

I don't think Sandra Udobi's playing today. She looks so forlorn. :( Sandie.

There's a woman here in a volleyball hoodie who appears to be a VIP. She approves of the flag. The flag is worth approving of.

After a bit of a rough start, St. John's is up 36-23, and it's clear, at least to me, that Joe Tartamella is using this game to see what his bench has to offer. The guards are looking good. Aliyyah Handford is doing Aliyyah things in the lane. Seriously, her Senior Day write-up is going to be epic.

Danaejah Grant was honored pregame for hitting 1K. Do ya thing, Nae.

That felt like it was closer than it needed to be, but at the same time, the bench got more extensive minutes than usual, and not just because Sandie DND. I think Joe felt it was more important to see what the reserves had to offer than it was to dominate the Stags, and I think he's right.

Sarah Stock was an emergency call-up when Casey Foley fouled out late in the game. Foley herself was defensively pesky. Kendra Landy saw brief minutes in the third quarter- I think she might have been the one who came in when Lizzy Ball started picking up fouls. Helena Orts came in briefly in relief of (I think) Smith near the end of the game. She and Khadidiatou Diouf both brought length, and when they were both in the game, there were a lot of long arms in the air blocking the passing lanes. Kristine Miller seemed to have a knack for being in good places defensively, though the box score doesn't help her. You'll just have to take my word for it that the Fairfield defense seemed better with her on the floor.

I love what Lizzy Ball brings to the table. She's super speedy- I've never seen anyone keep pace with Aaliyah Lewis the way she did. She's not the world's greatest shooter, although she did some work on that front in the second quarter, but she can change the game with her speed and her work on defense. I honestly don't remember much about Kristen McLaughlin- it seemed like they were going with Ball and Foley in the backcourt for much of the second half.

Kristin Schatzlein had a lot of open looks and took advantage of them- they didn't necessarily go in a lot, but she had them and they were good. Same for Kelsey Carey, sho also contributed on the boards with a nice move in the third quarter, moving around three Johnnies to get to it. Casey Smith did the down low and the dirty work, which makes her sound worse than she was- I like players who aren't afraid to do the things that don't get in box scores, and she was setting picks and making space for her teammates all day. She has a super fast shot at the line. I think she might have been studying tapes of Rick Barry or something. She wasn't quite under-handed, but she dipped a little low on them.

Fairfield was really good at getting into the passing lane and scoring clean interceptions. They recognized how much we like to drive the baseline and put a lot of bodies in the paint to block those passes.

O HAI SOX. Tamesha Alexander got to run the offense near the end of both halves. I thought she did all right for herself- would love to see a +/- for this game to confirm that. She's gotta work on her free throws, though. (So do all of our players, though.) Crystal Simmons brought some athletic moves and some defense, and then hit two funky-looking threes, the second one about when I had just commented about her offensive limitations. I like when players prove me wrong in a positive manner.

Some nice rebounding from Jordan Agustus off the bench today. She seems to be settling in a little bit. I'd really like for Akina Wellere to stop being terrified to shoot- I counted three occasions where she backed out of a shot that was in her normal sweet spot. She's got such a pretty shot, and I'd love to see more of it.

Imani Littleton still needs a lot of work knowing where she's supposed to be in offensive and defensive schemes, but she's improving, and so is her rebounding- there was one she fought for in the third quarter in between spurts of Danaejah getting things done, and she got to the line for it. Keep pushing! Keep fighting! She's got the moves in practice- time to see them on the floor, methinks. Jade Walker showed off her shot, as well as a distressing tendency to throw passes to the other team. That is not how anyone should be emulating Eli Manning. I also hate the step-forward two, the bastard sister of the step-back three.

Tiny Aaliyah Lewis is tiny, but she's feisty and fast and defensive-minded, and these are a few of my favorite things. It disturbs me that her shots came up short, but then she hit the three in the fourth quarter, and it might have been near the end of the shot clock, and I'll take it no matter how or when it comes. Danaejah Grant was covered tightly in the first half, then erupted in the third quarter to stretch the lead before Fairfield came back again. Her defense was a bit lackadaisical today. Aliyyah Handford moves like something out of the Matrix, or maybe whichever Terminator it is that turns into liquid. She has frighteningly phenomenal body control. I don't always like the dramatics when she takes contact, but part of me is okay with it, because she does take a lot of contact, and sometimes drama is necessary to make the officials aware that things happen.

(but seriously, Liyyah needs to have a WNBA roster spot this summer, I need to be seeing her play basketball as much as possible, I may be slightly addicted, but she's just so damn fun)

Officiating was all right until around the end of the third quarter, when it looked to be getting a little sloppy. But St. John's got the advantage on most of it, so I'm not going to complain. That would be just silly.

Running a play called "UConn" against a team from Connecticut does not end well- Fairfield got the steal on the play.

I admire Joe for finding an STJ holiday sweater sweatshirt, but it's still an eye-searing thing.

We have to work on clock awareness at the end of quarters. Doesn't help that we had a basket taken off the board, either. I thought Aliyyah was on time, but I could be wrong. It's been known to happen.

Santa Claus went around the arena giving out candy canes. They're in my backpack. He lost the halftime tag team contest, and Johnny Thunderbird was trying to give him a fighting chance by taking a three instead of going for the lay-up... and hit the three on the second or third shot.

I apologize if these notes are terser and less useful than usual. It's been a long day, full of cookies. So many cookies. My blood may have partially transmuted into cookie dough.