December 9th, 2015: Yale at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: After a slow start, St. John's came back to win over Yale, 69-56. Danaejah Grant led the Red Storm with 23 points and six rebounds. Tamara Simpson had 20 for Yale, but she and Nyasha Sarju (18 points) were the only Bulldogs in double figures.

For trains on fire, corner shooters, size mismatches, chewtoys, and frustration, join your intrepid and pained blogger after the jump.

We're continuing on an Ivy League trend tonight, this time at St. John's, as the Red Storm host the rematch with Yale. It's a doubleheader with the men, so you already know it's going to start late, that people are going to give me grief about going to my rightful place, that most of the crowd will be filing out as the game begins, and that the fans who do stay will most likely incur my wrath by asking me about the men and ignoring the women.

The ad for today's game says that this is a red-out, and that you have to wear red to get in. This isn't a problem for me, since my shirt and my jersey are both red, but what if your St. John's t-shirt is white? And what about the Niagara and Yale fans? Will they be forbidden entry because they have the audacity to wear their team's colors? I'm really hoping this is an exaggeration, or that it's limited to students or something.

Now that I'm in the arena, it's actually super depressing. They weren't supposed to let us in until the final buzzer of the men's game, but we sneaked in for the last sixteen seconds or so. My impression is that it was a really bad men's game, from what attendees tell me and from the fact that it ended 48-44. The place was still packed. And most of those people are leaving, even though they can stay for free if they want to.

Because it's a red-out, St. John's is in the red, while Yale is in the white. So I still don't get to see Yale's road kit.

I forgot the flag. I feel awful.

Seriously, they did not think their cunning plan all the way through.

Oh, come ON, Yale fans, you're seriously going to sit in the section where the band normally sits? I may have to go take them in hand. Not to mention that now anyone who's staying from Niagara is behind our bench. Did NOT think the cunning plan all the way through.

At halftime, St. John's is up 31-21, and that's after allowing a 7-0 hole shot to the Bulldogs. Aliyyah Handford has 9 for St. John's, Danaejah Grant 6, and Jade Walker 6. Tamara Simpson has 10 for Yale.

I seem to have given my mother my bad transportation karma. I'm sorry, mom.

Who did Whitney Wyckoff piss off? She's gotten the short end of the stick from the refs all night.

I'm not sure how we turned that into a 14-point win. I'll take it- I'll always take a win. But it didn't feel like we did anything spectacular to change the momentum of the game. It might have been as simple as Yale not having the players to compete once you got past Nyasha Sarju and Tamara Simpson.

You're getting the St. John's notes first because I don't have names for many of the Yale players, and "what's-her-face, with the braid" is not an acceptable epithet in game notes.

I really liked what Tamesha Alexander brought off the bench in the first half, and I'm surprised she didn’t play in the second half. She was tenacious and tough, and the offense seemed to be moving well with her at point. Crystal Simmons brought solid defense and one of the funkiest three-point shots I've ever seen actually go in after being deliberately taken. Akina Wellere's three-point spots are definitely the corners- I think all the ones she hit were from the corners, and the ones she missed were straightaway. She's still learning the ropes on defense, but I like her effort and her hustle.

Brief Jordan Agustus sighting near the end of the first half. Unremarkable. We can all act surprised that she wears #23 for Jordan, though. Jade Walker brought offense and some interior swats off the bench. I know I harp on this, but I really like her offense when she goes inside out- intimidates defenders with that big build of hers, then steps outside for the sweet, sweet jumpshot. But I'm maybe a little in love with offense in the paint. I accept that. I'm okay with that. Wonder of wonders, Jade was not a magnet for mind-numbingly stupid fouls today.

Danaejah Grant has really buckled down and turned herself into a get-things-done player. Y'all know how much I love some Aliyyah Handford and her eye-catching plays, but Nae has turned herself into a great rebounder, an acceptable defender, and a solid offensive option, with more range in her game than Liyyah has. She's come a long way. She just needs to keep her head in the game and not get distracted by bad calls, because there will always be bad calls. Aliyyah had defenders all over her all night, and even going Neo-in-the-Matrix on them didn’t always work. So she passed off down low instead. She's just so damn fun to watch. Aaliyah Lewis moves like a jitterbug and covers space in a hurry. I think the stretch where she was on the bench for Sox helped clear her vision and get her head back in the game- it seemed like the taller Yale players were throwing her off. She's mom's favorite, in case y'all didn't know. (Me? Aliyyah and Sox, if I have to pick.)

I'm honestly not sure why Imani Littleton is still starting at this point, unless it's to protect players who are more prone to stupid mistakes. She barely played in this one, and I can understand why- she was passive on both ends of the floor. When you're the tallest player on the team, you have to make plays, and you have to at least have your hands up. Sandra Udobi wasn't very mobile, but when she made blocks, you knew she was making blocks. She didn't quite bring out the Mutombo finger-wag, but after the third one, I got the sense that she was tempted (or that one of her teammates was).

Our PA guy wasn't really good at announcing subs, so I'm not rally as sure as I should be as to who played when. Elizabeth Haley got some brief minutes in the first half. Mary Ann Santucci was tall and awkward and in everyone's way on both sides of the ball. I honestly have no real impression of Emmy Allen and Jen Berkowitz, except maybe for fouls?

Whitney Wyckoff got some very bad calls against her in the first half, on two fouls that should not have been called against her, and got a little bit of her own back in the second. I was surprised that she was doing so much ballhandling in the second half- she didn't seem all that comfortable with it. It might have been bias on my part because I tend to gravitate to names and faces I know, but she always seemed to be in the middle of play, whether it was setting up the offense or making plays on the defensive end. Tamara Simpson was strong on offense- not just in the "please allow me to introduce you to my 20 points" sense, but in the sense that she was strong and physical. The way she was hitting that one-handed shot off the glass, she's got to be a finance major, because she knows her banking. (I'll stop now. I've been sitting on it all night, though.) Katie Werner was small and kinda quick-moving. I seem to remember her around the sidelines a lot. Nyasha Sarju was one of the only Yale players who knew what to do with the ball when she was in a decent position to score. She had nice range on her jumper. She was very deft with the ball as well.

There was a stretch in the third quarter where the game briefly turned into a ref show, but it calmed back down after a correct out-of-bounds call against St. John's. Other than that, it was the usual round of inconsistency.

The men's team came and sat a few rows in front of us, with what looked like really bad Italian food. I hope it wasn't. Bad, I mean.

Dance team has been working on their moves. Cheer team needs to. They showed a lot of interesting stuff during Tip-Off- don't lose it now!

Aliyyah and Danaejah are going to win us a lot of games. It's up to everyone else to step up around them.