January 8th, 2017: Marquette at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's started on an 8-0 run and paced Marquette from start to finish in a 70-64 win. Jade Walker continued her streak of setting new career-highs, this time with 32 points; Aaliyah Lewis notched a double-double with 21 points and 10 assists. Allazia Blockton led Marquette with 20 points and eight rebounds.

For realizations, Girl Scouts, multifunction cheerleaders, pushouts, offensive freelancing, unsung defense, and new hairdos, join your intrepid and moosed blogger after the jump.

Happy New Year, everyone! New calendar year, but basketball never stops. The Game Notes of Doom are coming to you from the familiar confines of Carnesecca Arena, where the Red Storm return home to face the enigmatic Golden Eagles of Marquette.

I'm not a fan of Marquette's powder blue uniforms. The sweatsuits for inactive players are even uglier; they look like they're in jammies. The taller inactive player looks really cranky about it, too. (I don't know who she is. Honestly, without names and numbers, the only Marquette players I can immediately identify are Danielle King and Natisha Hiedeman; King because she's tiny, Hiedeman because she's got that Layshia Clarendon look going on.)

Girl Scout Day and cheer camp today, so there will be lots of little girls, and lots of high-pitched screaming. Unfortunately, it looks like we're not going to have the services of the dance team- they were loading into a van when we arrived.

Maya Singleton appears to have left her hair at baggage claim. I could have sworn she still had a ponytail on the road trip.

At halftime, it's 40-31 St. John's, and it's that close because Jade Walker did the second-dumbest thing I've ever seen a St. John's player do on a basketball court- bailed on a rebound and then blatantly fouled Danielle King to allow a four-point play. If you're going to not guard the tiny player, at least make sure she doesn't hit the shot.

As it turns out, the mini-cheerleaders aren't here as part of cheer camp, they're here with the biddy team that's playing at halftime. Should I be worried that fourth graders have cheerleaders? Oh, jeez, one of the kids just went down like a ton of bricks. She was crying, but she got up pretty quickly.

Marquette's coach seems to be taking the scooter thing in stride (as it were) and with good humor.

I won't say it was our best game, and I won't say I'm not disturbed by the lack of scoring balance, but it was a good win, and I love the development of our freshmen.

Shantelle Valentine was called upon for the bulk of the minutes in the post, especially after Erika Davenport left the game for unspecified reasons. She's got nice touch at the basket, but she has to be less aggressive defensively and know her foul situation. You can't be running the trap if you're in foul trouble. You and your coach both have to be aware of your foul count. Altia Anderson was called upon for a few minutes late in the game, with Davenport and Valentine both unavailable. I see the potential in her, and she certainly has the right name for her height.

Amani Wilborn was very aggressive offensively, looking to take a lot of shots. The defense was there to stop her at the rim, and she didn't let that stop her. She probably should have. She wasn't always the best option. Isabelle Spingola has some potential, but she's not ready for the big time yet. If she's more willing to get physical, I can see her stepping into the McKayla Yentz role for the Golden Eagles in time- she has the build, and I think she can learn the positioning.

I don't know what happened to Erika Davenport- she left the game, and then Valentine started the second half and we never saw her again. She may have been sick- someone was bent over behind the bench around halftime. She does need to learn to pick on someone her own size, though- she got in a nasty hit on Aaliyah Lewis. McKayla Yentz did a lot of work setting screens for the guards, then curling into the corner for three-point attempts. I think she was more effective as a screener, though.

I've come to the conclusion that, as a Johnnie, I can best describe Allazia Blockton as the biologically impossible but athletically miraculous lovechild of Aliyyah Handford and Danaejah Grant, and this is probably why she regularly opens up a can of whoop-ass wherever she goes. She's not slashing as much as she was last year, but the jumper is pretty solid, and she gets to the line. And you can't get casual with the basketball around her, because she'll take it away in a second. I'd like to see her slash to the basket more, but not against either of my teams. Natisha Hiedeman scored a lot of her points late, and her motor just doesn't stop. She's fun to watch- sometimes she's even more fun than Blockton. Danielle King is fast and loves the three, and she runs her team well. I don't know if she's the right point guard for this roster, though; Marquette might be better off with Wilborn starting and Hiedeman switching to point.

Maya Singleton had a putback for the only bench points. She didn't play a lot, but she did what we needed her to do. Ditto for Sandra Udobi, whose brace has either grown or acquired a larger sleeve. Her entire leg was covered by the end of the game. Should we start worrying about the Borg?

Andrayah Adams needs to work on her handle, or at least her ball security. I like her assertiveness on offense, though. Crystal Simmons brought the defense- I love watching her intensity as she defends. Whatever deal with the devil she signed for her shot to land has expired, though, and I don't know how effective she can be if she's one-dimensional.

Imani Littleton's inconsistency frustrates me. There are times when she's ferocious on the glass and strong in the paint. There are times when she deflects rebounds instead of pulling them down and lets passes go off her hands. And there are days like today that are somewhere in the middle where she is adrift offensively but erases drives on the inside. I find her strangely fascinating amidst the frustration. Jade Walker had herself a day on offense. Sometimes it was not as planned- there were a couple of plays near the end of the second quarter where it was abundantly clear that the long jumper Jade was taking was not the play that Joe had called. She was at her best when she was forcing her way inside with power, then stretching the offense with her jumper. And we won't talk about the two fouls against three-point shooters. I love when Jade does amazing things, and she was certainly the star of the show, but that doesn't get her off the hook for mind-numbingly stupid decisions.

Aaliyah Lewis has to acknowledge sometimes that she does commit fouls. It does happen. She was on point today, on so many levels. Her passing was good, her footwork was slick, and she made the shot clock beg for mercy. She's got to improve her free throw shooting, and get out of her head when she goes on a cold streak. I think she dwells on missed free throws too much when she gets back to the line. Alisha Kebbe did yeoman's work on defense today. She had the difficult task of trying to contain Allazia Blockton, and she did a very good job of it. In that context, I can understand why she was having trouble with some of the chippies, and why she might prefer the three-pointer on offense. Her going beyond the arc certainly made up for the lack of production from Akina Wellere. Part of Akina's problem was stupid foul trouble, but she's regressed a lot from the scorer who helped us win the Big East title last year. She's inconsistent and playing scared. Can't have that from her.

Officiating was the usual mess of inconsistencies, loose in the first half and tighter in the second. Joe objected to some of the travels by Marquette he thought weren't being called.

Nice anthem, but it had "trying too hard" written all over it. You have to know the limitations of your voice and not wander all over the musical map.

I have a band moose now!

Trying to generate crowd noise with just the cheerleaders and DSPN doesn't work. We really need to develop signals.

I'm happy we won, and very happy for the big games by Jade and Aaliyah. But I'm worried about the lack of balance. DePaul is no easy task, even without January.