By Joseph Staszewski
The news was a bit delayed, but exciting nonetheless.
The St. John’s University women’s basketball team had to find its name on the NCAA tournament bracket after one half of the Louisville region flashed across the television screen at the Delta SkyClub 360 at Citi Field Monday. Normally each matchup is revealed one by one.
“It was a little fake because it was just there,” sophomore guard Aliyyah Handford said of her initial reaction. “We had to look for it, but afterwards it got exciting.”
The Red Storm is going to the field of 64 for the fifth straight season. St. John’s earned a No. 8 seed and faces No. 9 USC, the Pac-12 tournament champions, in the opening round at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
A matchup with the second-seeded Lady Vols of the University of Tennessee likely waits in the second round if SJU can get by the Trojans. The experience of making the NCAA tournament never gets old.
“We continue to write history for our program,” St. John’s Coach Joe Tartamella said. “It’s a testament to our current players, our players from the past and all the coaches that have been here. This is what it’s about.”
His team avoided a potential round-of-32 matchup with undefeated UConn and Notre Dame, both No. 1 seeds. But the Red Storm faces a USC team coached by Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper-Dyke on a six-game winning streak and led by point guard Ariya Crook and forward Cassie Harberts.
Still, Handford, an All-Big East first team selection, believes her team has what it takes to make a run in the tournament.
“We can go far and go to the Sweet 16 and do a lot of good things,” she said.
St. John’s, which placed second in the Big East during the regular season, enters the NCAA tournament fresh off the program’s first appearance in the conference championship game since 1988, a 65-57 loss to regular season winner DePaul. The Red Storm went 22-10 overall and 13-5 in league play, including an 11-game Big East winning streak.
“Just to get to the championship means a lot to this program,” said red-shirt senior Eugeneia McPherson, who is headed to her fifth-straight NCAA tournament.
The deep Red Storm had to fight through a four-game losing streak that ended with a win over Providence. McPherson said the players had multiple meetings to figure out what was wrong. St. John’s got back to defending and sharing the ball and began playing its brand of basketball again during the playoffs. Tartamella believes it is those same principals that can help his team have success in the NCAA tournament.
“I think because we [play] defense we always have an opportunity,” Tartamella said. “When we have been successful, we have defended very well. If we can do that, we have the ability to try to make a run.”
