February 25th, 2018: Marquette at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Marquette made a run in the second quarter and never looked back in a 76-57 win at St. John's to finish the regular season and claim a share of the Big East regular season title. Allazia Blockton's 19 points led four Golden Eagles in double figures. Andrayah Adams and Maya Singleton each had 11 points for the Red Storm.

For fond farewells, movie night, shooting your shot, secrets, terrible singing, joy for others, the long road trip, and looking forward, join your intrepid and serene blogger after the jump.

Are you ready to get punched right in the feels? I'm not, but Senior Day waits for no woman. (Much to my annoyance. Everyone needs to stop scheduling things on everyone's Senior Days.) St. John's is pretty much locked into the fifth seed, but Marquette has everything to play for, with the regular season conference title still in play.

As always, it's Girls and Women in Sports Day for Senior Day, so the place is filling up from the clinic kids. They have the little roller signs, and I'm a tiny bit jealous, but we have a flag, so their argument is invalid, or something like that.

Given who Sox reminds me of and what number she wears, it's appropriate that Sky Lindsay is working this game. She's not as sparkly as she was on Friday, but she still knows how to draw the eye.

I get the sense that our strength and conditioning coach was either a Tolkien dwarf in a previous life or secretly plays one in a D&D campaign.

Well, we know Maya's got family here, and suddenly the kid running around in Maryland gear makes a lot more sense.

Senior Day was as it ever was. Each of the three seniors, plus the senior manager, got a brief speech talking around and about their accomplishments for the program. Boy, did they drag out the clichés for Sox. At least this year they didn't use the BHA jerseys for the framed jersey. Small mercies. The two things I wish St. John's would do that I've seen other schools do is acknowledge the opponent's seniors (so in this case, Shantelle Valentine) and cut a short highlight reel for the seniors. I think you could pull together enough footage of even Sox for that short a ceremony.

At halftime it's 36-25 Marquette. They're killing us on the break. Steals lead to fast break points lead to your intrepid blogger tearing her hair out (and I'm starting to get to that age where it doesn't grow back as easily). Amani Wilborn has 10 to lead Marquette. Maya Singleton seems to be our offensive target today, with eight points.

Imani Littleton's family is sitting over by us. They seem cool. Louder than Imani is.

Wow, there are a lot of buckets being scored in this scrimmage.

The kid who did the obstacle course should be lucky Maya's uncle the Marine didn't look up at the weaksauce push-ups he was doing, or he might have had to do them again and again.

Alumnae reunion today. So far I've spotted Kendyl Nunn, Aaliyah Lewis, Jade Walker, and Danaejah Grant for sure, and possibly Kimberly Spruill and Sandra Udobi. (And obviously Shenneika Smith, Da'Shena Stevens, and Sky Lindsay are here but working in various capacities.) I don't know who all was there, because heaven forfend that they actually acknowledge alumnae by name instead of in one big "thanks for coming!" message.

I think Joe was looking ahead to Chicago; our seed was locked and Marquette was the team with everything to play for. We ran out of give-a-damn in the third quarter, and Marquette only got stronger. I suspect someone was scoreboard-watching for Marquette, either one of the support staff or one of the traveling fans, and they knew exactly what the stakes were, knew that DePaul had won and knew that Villanova was beating Creighton, knew that the regular season title and the top seed were theirs for the taking if they kept the pressure on. So congrats to the Golden Eagles- they deserve this, and I know what this means to that program and the legacy of the class of 2019.

Altia Anderson and Sandra Dahling only came in at the very end of the game, when everything had been decided. Isabelle Spingola came in very briefly, mostly as a shooter, though the one she hit was, I think, a lay-up. Shantelle Valentine was so unprepared to come in that when she checked in, she forgot to take off her warm-up shirt. Given her class, I couldn't help but yell, "Having a senior moment?" Look, sometimes life hands you straight lines.

Impressed with Selena Lott. She's still wearing off some of the freshman roughness, and still not always sure where she's supposed to be, but she's learning quickly and well. She had a nifty steal for a fast break lay-up, and a big block on Qadashah Hoppie to end a St. John's possession. She's sort in that tweener hole that Allazia Blockton is, without as much skill as Blockton- but she's also two years younger. Lauren Van Kleunen set good screens and was solid inside, with just enough perimeter offense to make her a threat.

Okay, I'm looking at the official box score now, and I don't understand how Natisha Hiedeman only has one steal. She was all over the passing lanes. It's really obvious where she's going. You can't pull off stealth mode with a giant blonde Afro that's a few shades too light to be proper Marquette gold. She missed some easy bunnies, but I'd be willing to bet that she still had a positive +/- just based on her defense. Amani Wilborn penetrated and drew fouls, and of course this was the day she was going to hit the threes that she doesn't usually knock down. She had a scary moment in the first half where she went down hard and play didn't stop for several possessions. That's on the refs for not stopping play. I'm glad she was able to get back into the game; there are times when I'm bloodthirsty, but I usually don't like seeing injuries. Danielle King is really the engine that makes the Golden Eagles fly. I'd love to see a breakdown of her +/-, because it seemed like what little second half momentum we had was when she was out of the game, and Marquette got back on track when she re-entered. She's so tiny, but she's quick and she's heady. I still don't know how she beat the shot clock on that one play. She's got game inside and out.

I swear Allazia Blockton's getting taller. This is not fair and it's ridiculous. She's already ridiculous. Not only does she have an outside shot and not only can she penetrate to score, now she's also blocking shots, boxing out, and rebounding like a true small forward. She is so good. She's ridiculous. If she doesn't have a pro career it's a shame. Erika Davenport rebounded hard and took advantage of our terrible passing. There were interior passes that we were not paying attention to that we should have been paying attention to. She's such a good option for them underneath. I have no idea why we were trying to throw guards on her. That is a terrible plan and we should feel terrible for attempting it.

I have no idea why Joe decided to throw Shamachya Duncan into the game in the third quarter. She gave up a basket and scored one just as quickly. She's got spunk, I'll give her that, but she's still not ready for prime time, and her usual schtick of getting the team and the crowd excited with threes doesn’t work if she doesn't take threes. Kayla Charles really needs to stop fighting her teammates for rebounds. Y'all are wearing the same uniform, it's kind of obvious y'all should be working together.

Andrayah Adams got going in the fourth quarter for some rapid-fire buckets, and had a really nifty rebound in the third quarter- I think that was one she pretty much stole from Marquette on a scrap. I guess she likes playing against Marquette or something. Qadashah Hoppie seemed to have decided that this was her weekend to take all the shots. There were possessions where she was the only St. John's player to touch the ball. I have a problem with this. I very much have a problem with this. Yes, Joe pulls her when she takes exceptionally bad shots, but there don't seem to be any lasting reprecussions from ballhogging. She's got to work on her defense- hand down, man down, everyone knows that. Even the family in the stands knows that. I know she's only a freshman, and there are tendencies that need to be coached out of her. I just don't know if Joe's that kind of coach, and if he has that kind of leverage. But it's too early to think about next year. Tiana England played well, although she was tentative initiating the offense. But that's the same as it ever was. She can't be that tentative when dealing with teams that like to jump the passing lanes- her passing was way too soft today and that led to Marquette steals and fast breaks.

Maya Singleton was the main offensive target today- we were feeding her early. Seniority hath its privileges, I suppose. I thought she relied too much on her jumper today, but if that's what she was getting, I understand it. She was getting boxed out more easily than I'm used to. Imani Littleton laid a monster block on Danielle King (though you get no degree of difficulty points on that) and did her best to rebound, but she was getting boxed out and getting very little help from her teammates. There were too many sequences where three or four blue jerseys surrounded one white jersey. And I'm still salty about that fantastic fast break she blew- if you get that steal, take it up, don't just throw it willy-nilly at the rim.

For once, Joe actually acknowledged senior privilege and gave Tamesha Alexander the ceremonial start in place of Tiana. We were all encouraging her to go get herself a bucket, since that's a thing that doesn't happen very often, but she got a rebound and an assist, and that seems to be the kind of thing she's happy with. Akina Wellere's three-point shot just wasn't going down. She had better luck going to the basket and getting free throws, and I really would like to see her do more of that. She's got the build for it, and sometimes the jumper just isn't working. Alisha Kebbe was inconsistent, though she picked up her offense briefly in the third quarter. On one possession she might lay a block on Wilborn; on another, she might literally have her back turned to her assignment. I love Alisha's hustle, but I wish she could bring it consistently.

Rebounding killed us- rather, the lack thereof. Or maybe it was the insistence on shooting threes. Or maybe it was the dicey passing. I don't know. It might simply have been that Marquette had everything to gain and we had nothing left to play for but pride. And I don't know if we're a team that thrives on pride and holding our ground.

I think the officials occasionally labored under the misapprehension that we all came to see them. We didn't.

Dance team finished strong. Man, they're good.

Let the record show that Akina can't sing. Let the record also show that Maya needs to expand her ice cream palate.

We didn't stay for the movie, but we did come through the autograph line to thank our seniors and wish the kids luck in Chicago. Sox now knows she's my favorite among this iteration of Johnnies. I told her not to tell the rest of the squad. Hopefully they won't read this. (Favorite person, I should clarify. Her energy is irresistible. Favorite player? Ah, that changes month by month sometimes.)

There were Girl Scouts. There were Girl Scout patches. Now I have to remember where I put my sash and get a sewing kit. I was never the best Scout, but I was a Scout with pride.

I very much want to love this team with a smack upside the head sometimes, because they frustrate me, but I do still love them and I think they have potential to grow. There will come a time when they're tested, and either they'll come out of it stronger or they'll break and we'll be in for another rough stretch. I'll be there either way.