March 22nd, 2018: Duquesne at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's surged out to a big lead and held off a fourth quarter run to beat Duquesne 65-52 in the third round of the WNIT. Akina Wellere had a team-high 17 points while Maya Singleton notched her 18th double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Chassidy Omogrosso had 14 points to lead Duquesne.

For not letting things go, fantastically obvious inconsistency, amazing eyelashes, defensive prowess, the encourager of hesitancy, and gawky forwards, join your intrepid and uncertain blogger after the jump.


Man, this WNIT thing is a killer on the budget. Stupid Triple Crown jacking up prices. $12 per game adds up, and if there are discounts for season ticket holders no one told me about them. It's third-round action coming to you from Carnesecca Arena, as the Red Storm faces the Dukes of Duquesne.

Now, if you know all my ties, you know that Duquesne made life miserable for St. John's twice last year, and made it miserable for Seton Hall one year, and generally irks Fordham every year, and knocked Miami of Ohio out of the WNIT this year. In other words, DUQUESNE MUST SUFFER.

So far we're one for three on visiting bands. Duquesne doesn't seem to have brought theirs. We do, however, seem to be three for three on opposing fans who have decided that sitting across from the home bench is appropriate. One dude has been riding the refs all day. I think my favorite part is where one possession he yelled, "LET 'EM PLAY!" after Duquesne got called for an illegal screen, and two possessions later he demands "WHERE'S THE CALL?!" on a play that Maya was literally backing away from. Consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds, but it's also hilarious when not applied. Duquesne's fans did not let up on the refs all night, and it got tiresome to hear "YOU SUCK!" and "I hope you don't sleep tonight!"

Nykesha Thompson's epic side-eye to the upper deck was worth most of the ridiculousness, though. Visiting fans don't realize how small the arena is. Or how good the acoustics are. Yes, the refs can hear you accusing them of cheating.

(And yes, I admit to riding the refs sometimes. But not for 80% of the game like these guys did.)

It's 34-17 St. John's at the half. Alisha Kebbe has a team-high nine points for St. John's, but shoutout to Imani Littleton with the 6 and 7. I see you, 'Mani. Chassidy Omogrosso has eight to lead Duquesne. She'd have more if she hit the shots she was getting. Duquesne is running a lot of screening action, but they're having trouble consistently setting the screens. Omogrosso looks like she's getting frustrated at teammates who aren't getting the play right.

We gave up a little too much in the fourth quarter for my liking, but that's Joe's tendency to slow the game to a crawl combined with Tiana's timidity, accentuated by our apparent inability to leave well enough alone by committing stupid fouls. We don't have the end-game ball thought right now to play those kinds of games, and Joe needs to be aware of that. But we made enough good defensive plays that we were able to hold down the fort.

Kiersten Elliott got into the game in the final minute and promptly committed a foul on the backcourt trap. I'm not 100% certain it wasn't a called play, though, so I'll cut her a little slack. I've seen coaches use the deep bench for that before. Judith Sole started getting heavy minutes at the end of the third quarter. She's a big body who's not afraid to use that bulk down low. She had a miserable night at the free throw line, and by the third or fourth miss, she was really starting to beat herself up about it. I felt really bad for her- she's a senior, so that was her last game, and that's not how you want to go out. Helmi Tulonen was one of the many tall, gawky forwards that Duquesne brought off the bench. They do seem to like their gawky, blocky forwards.

I honestly can't believe Amanda Kalin played for half the game- she didn't leave much of an impression, though the one shot she did hit fairly late in the game was on a nice runout. (She may also have been borrowing a teammate's jersey, because I swear #12 was out on the floor, but Anie-Pier Samson isn't in the box score. I have enough trouble with nameless jerseys, changing them on me is just not fair.) Libby Bazelak did a good job of going to the rack and getting the call later in the game, taking advantage of our defensive lapses. For her own defense, though, she does need to understand where the circle is, and if she's in it when she's trying to establish position. Eniko Kuttor seemed to have her coach's confidence for her rebounding. She kept leaving her feet to pass, though, and after the second time in rapid succession, Coach Burt took her out for a Teaching Moment. One presumes the Hungarian for "Stop doing that!" was involved at some point.

Kadri-Ann Lass finally got her shot working in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late. She was a mismatch for us, but we were confounding her equally- she was able to shake shorter defenders outside, but couldn't always hit with our shotblockers in her face. She and Conor Richardson both got dinged for illegal screens in the first quarter, which is a bit of a problem for a team that seems to rely heavily on screens to get their shooters open. Richardson really got the short end of the stick from the refs- there was a foul credited to her that I thought should have been on Sole, and somewhere along the line a foul got credited to her that I didn't even spot. She's tough, and I respect that; I think she was hobbled by the foul trouble and didn't get the chance to show what she could do. Paige Cannon was physical inside, which led to foul trouble for her as well. I thought she played a lot more than she actually did. Big and blonde and physical- that's all the impression she left.

Julijana Vojinovic had nice touch from the outside, or at least that was the shot she was most comfortable with. We left her alone a little too much for my liking. Chassidy Omogrosso seems to be the leader for this team, or at least she thinks she is. She drove hard and passed fast, and she was emotional on the floor. You could see her getting visibly frustrated with everything: the officials, the shots she missed, the teammates who weren't catching her passes. She's got talent, and she's got the ability to get around the defense, but she spent way too much time in her feelings and in her own head in this game to be truly effective for Duquesne. There was a lot of negative energy there.

On one hand, I'm surprised that Duquesne seemed so disorganized- most of their core players are juniors, and they've had time to play together. But there's always room for communication issues when you have as international a squad as Duquesne has. And if communications break down on a team that's relying on screens to get shooters open, then you've got a problem.

Kayla Charles is still raw, but I still see the potential in her to be a force inside. She just needs to pick up on-ball instincts. I'm also sort of starting to see where Shamachya Duncan fits in the scheme, at least with the guards we have now. Joe was using Sox in a similar role earlier, at the ends of quarters to soak up a couple of minutes for our beleaguered starters. If she can keep improving her defense, she might slot into a threes-and-D role next year.

I'm not sure if shooting about five seconds after popping off the bench for the first time is the world's greatest idea, Andrayah Adams, but you do you. I've said it before and I'll say it again- she might be shot-happy, but sometimes this team needs a heartless gunner. I'd rather she take the extra step back and take threes instead of settling for the quick long two. I do like the midrange game, but there's a difference between midrange and just the wrong side of the three-point line. Qadashah Hoppie had some rough luck with the rim in this one. Not her best day. Not her worst, but not her best.

Poor Akina Wellere keeps getting knocked in the face. I'm glad she's starting to go back to her outside shot more. She's been played out of position at the four too much for my liking, because Imani and Maya do have to rest at some point. But she was feeling it from beyond the arc- you could see her confidence in the follow-through of her wrist. I love watching her shot when she's in rhythm. Tiana England had some amazing passes in the fourth quarter down low, one to Maya and one to Imani. I think she also had a really good one to Alisha, but I can't remember if Alisha hit the shot or not. I'm still not thrilled with her propensity to slow the game down, but that's on both her and Joe. Alisha Kebbe started off hot offensively, which was a pleasant surprise. She was still solid defensively, too. Great game from her- exactly what we needed.

Maya Singleton was surprisingly passive on defense for stretches of the game. I guess the postseason grind is starting to get to her a little bit. I'm not used to her backing off plays as blatantly as she did. She took care of the boards, and her midrange game was working, but she didn't have the edge I'm used to. (And she still got the double-double, which says a lot about what she can do.) Imani Littleton brought the defense, and the grace under pressure. The length of her arms and her reach were on display tonight, whether it was with emphatic shot blocking or flicking away passes to get the breakaway. Emphatic Imani is best Imani.

(As an aside, I'm bummed Joe didn't give Sox a teeny bit of run to end the game. She's a senior; she deserves a send-off.)

There were definitely calls that we got the benefit of the doubt on. On the other hand, the officials stopped calling those illegal screens on Duquesne in the second half, and they didn't magically improve their screen-setting ability, so there's that. And we made some terrible decisions in the fourth quarter defensively. There's no good reason to stop the clock when you're up double figures in the final two minutes.

That being said, Joe, please let Tiana confirm the continued presence of all her teeth before you start lambasting her for that admittedly stupid foul.

Funny moment of the night: Imani committing a travel so blatant that even Qadashah was making the travel signal. Two points for honesty, I suppose.

So close on the raffle... just one digit away.

It's been confirmed that we don't get host-rights next round, no matter who wins, and looking ahead in the bracket, the schools around us are from bigger conferences and likely have bigger budgets, so this was probably our last home game. I loathe the uncertainty, but at the same time, I wish the kids well on their travels. (Just, y'know. With less traveling. Footwork is important!) Part of me wants to be there to see the seniors out, but on the other hand, I can't bear the heartbreak.

Let's go get 'em, Johnnies.