February 7th, 2016: St. John's at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A second-quarter push propelled St. John's to a more-or-less comfortable 72-64 win at Seton Hall. Aaliyah Lewis had 22 points to lead the Red Storm, with Danaejah Grant adding 20. Tabatha Richardson-Smith led Seton Hall with 18 points, while Lubirdia Gordon notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

For awkward seating arrangements, singular signs, SO MUCH AWKWARD, double standards, abusing Simmonses, Brick City Ballers, and big games in small packages, join your intrepid and distracted blogger after the jump.

Hello from Bowl Day in New Jersey! Your intrepid blogger comes to you from historic and hard-wooded Walsh Gymnasium, as we start off Super Bowl Sunday with the Awkward Bowl.

I've already gotten the thumbs-down from Tab and Bird. Look, I was a Johnnie before y'all were Pirates. (Especially you, Miss "I Transferred From West Virginia And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt".) Bad enough y'all stole my husband. You can't have me. Day would kick my ass anyway.

Look, scary trainer dude, it's a little late to start trying to stretch Aaliyah Lewis for some extra height. Should have started that last year.

Eric Thibault in the house, so we know the Mystics are interested in someone- maybe Tab, maybe Liyyah, who knows.

I think we might have picked up a transfer. There's someone unfamiliar in a women's basketball jacket.

Oh, just fantastic, someone's dumped a youth group behind our bench. There's an entire damn arena to sit in, can't you go so sit somewhere else? That's the disadvantage of general admission, though, it's a lot harder to designate visiting seats. But tweens. Why did it have to be tweens? At least that's better than the really little ones, I guess.

I've been informed that the St. John's managers beat the Seton Hall managers by 18. Not that this is a rivalry or anything.

At halftime, St. John's is up 32-28, but I'm worried about the two fouls on Aliyyah and Danaejah. Aaliyah Lewis is having herself a day for the Johnnies- she's already got 12.

I guess Sarah Olson from Monmouth is a better person than I thought from her style of play- she's Monmouth's representative at this student-athlete thing at halftime.

Spotted in the crowd: Nadirah McKenith and Amber Thompson (who looks very different without both her braids and her expression of "Mom, you are the most embarrassing person in the universe, please stop").

So, thanks to both Jersey traffic and this confounded group of tweens parked behind the visiting bench, guess what? RedZone's in the upper deck above the Seton Hall bench! Well planned, y'all. Brilliant. Now no one's happy. There were a lot of words between Tony and Joe before the game, and apparently words between Joe and one of the SHU assistants as well.

(Note: I have to work off the Seton Hall box score, since the St. John's box score has conflated Seton Hall and Sacred Heart, and Tab is suddenly Greek.)

Jordan Agustus played briefly, and her primary role seemed to be causing Joe Tartamella to curse (which he really does more than he ought to, said the woman who once dropped 37 f-bombs in a postgame rant). Jade Walker was very present and very active, but missed a lot of shots she should have hit and passed up a couple she should have taken. She had some huge blocks. I can't say enough about Crystal Simmons's defense off the bench. That was a key, key part of the game- not only did she occupy Tabatha Richardson-Smith, that meant that we didn't have to have Danaejah playing full two-way, and that loosened her up to be an offensive threat. Crystal took a lot of hits, and ended up fouling out, but that was the push we needed to preserve Nae and her fouls. Akina Wellere needs to be less timid with the ball, but that will come with time, one hopes.

Sandra Udobi took a hard hit from Lubirdia Gordon early in the game and went down holding her knee- the one that she's got an injury history with already. She came out of the game after that- came back in near the end of the quarter, but then got caught up in a five-woman pile-up, and it was back to the bench. She recovered enough for the second half, and did some good work boxing out and rebounding. Imani Littleton was frustrating- beautiful when she got good looks at the basket, hair-pulling-out-inducing when she spun out of position on defense and ended up either fouling or causing someone else to have to foul. Biggest play of the game for her might have been deflecting Tab's shot at the end of the first half.

Aliyyah Handford had some rough puck luck, and I'm starting to wonder if she's got the yips. There are still flashes of the player she was in the first half of the season- the defensive hustle, the steal and score, the seemingly effortless penetration- but she's seeing more defenses and I think she's wearing down. Fortunately, we have a spare Aaliyah. Which is a terrible thing to call Aaliyah Lewis, since she's pretty freakin' awesome on her own merits, but it maks for a pretty easy joke. She had herself a day today- she was able to use her speed against Seton Hall, and her lack of size isn't as much of an issue when she's about eye to eye with Aleesha Powell and has a slim height advantage on Shakena Richardson. She made space for herself, and then when the Pirate defense rotated to cover everyone else, she sneaked into empty spaces. It was remarkable how she got to the basket. Danaejah Grant roared to life in the third quarter, penetrating and scoring. It's funny- I often find myself with a lack of words for what Nae does, even when she's the star of the show. She's simply solid- she scores well, she rebounds well, and she's really picked up her defense.

Claire Lundberg played briefly and situationally. I think the only reason she was in to start the second quarter was because Coach Bozzella was hoping to have a stoppage near the end of the first. Jordan Molyneaux played spot minutes in the first half, and did pretty well offensively- St. John's overlooked her and she got two open looks, though she missed one. Taylor Byrne picked up those bench post minutes in the second half, and she stretched the floor with her range. I like her hustle. Jordan Mosley came on to hassle the ballhandler and generally bring the defense. LaTecia Smith played a fair number of minutes and helped run the Seton Hall pressure defense that got them back in the game in the middle of the third quarter.

I like Lubirdia Gordon a lot better when I'm rooting for her team. She's physical, and sometimes a bit too far. Judging from this game, Seton Hall shouldn't run plays for her- she's not ready for offense to go through her. But she did a great job of picking up offensive boards and repairing broken plays. Tabatha Richardson-Smith had a hard time getting the points she did, closely guarded as she was for most of the game- she needed a lot of help from her bigs' screens to get space. She had to rely more on her ability to create in the paint, which is still pretty incredible. Tiffany Jones has come back down to earth- she's still putting in work on the glass, but she's being more closely guarded on her shot, and I think it's gotten into her head a little bit- she's been committing a lot more offensive fouls, whether they're on illegal screens or other forms of motion.

Aleesha Powell is tiny but fierce. I mean, y'all knew that already, but she showed no fear today. She was crucial on both sides of the floor, and she did her best to pull Seton Hall back into the game in the second quarter. She played Aaliyah Lewis very tough. Shakena Richardson got off to a good start, but then she was involved in the five-player pile-up, and she took the worst of it. Having Imani sit on you is probably not good if you're 5'4". Or anyone, really. And she fell on her hand as well, so she had to come out of the game while the trainer took care of her. She has such an amazing ability to create space for herself with her ballhandling. And you know she doesn't back down from anyone, or anything, even the stanchion. (She ended up halfway wrapped around it at one point, it was pretty spectacular.)

The officials decided to inject themselves into the game in the third quarter, and for much of the fourth. Traveling was a bit difficult for them, and they were having trouble keeping an eye on the sidelines on the Seton Hall side of the floor. So, you know, we'll ignore the shot to the throat, but we'll call the ticky-tack touch foul. (Although, dude in the Astros cap, don't yell at the refs when they're making calls in your team's favor. Just sayin'.)

I like the guy during the shootout contest who assumed he had to try for a halfcourt shot. Never be satisfied, man.

Seton Hall never seemed to answer the emotion that St. John's brought to the game. This has become a pretty big rivalry, at least for the kids from Newark and Piscataway and Maplewood and Staten Island, and the Red Storm rose to the occasion.