Home teams went 2-0 on Tuesday night as BIG EAST women’s basketball conference play moved into full swing. Louisville started off the weekly Tuesday night CBS College games with an 84-73 victory over No. 18/18 St. John’s at the KFC Yum! Center.
Junior Monique Reid scored 24 points and junior Becky Burke added 21 as Louisville earned its second win over a top-20 team this year. The Cardinals also beat then-No. 8/9 Kentucky at home on 78-52 on Dec. 5.
The Cardinals (11-5, 2-0 BIG EAST) forced the Red Storm (12-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) into a season-high 23 turnovers to knock off a ranked team for the third time this season.
Sophomore Tia Gibbs added 18 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman point guard Shoni Schimmel had 11 points and 11 assists for Louisville, which took control in the first half and never let the Red Storm get closer than five during the game’s final 25 minutes. Louisville led 36-27 at halftime.
Sophomore Shenneika Smith led St. John’s with 23 points and sophomore Eugenia McPherson had 15 points and four rebounds, but the Red Storm struggled holding onto the ball. St. John’s totaled 23 turnovers.
Louisville wasn’t much better, turning it over 19 times, but the Cardinals made 10 of 23 3-pointers and was steady at the free-throw line in the final minutes as the Red Storm tried to come back. Louisville shot 12-of-15 from the charity stripe.
No. 15/14 Georgetown (13-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) also won at home as it beat No. 23/RV Syracuse (12-2, 0-1 BIG EAST) by the score of 80-62.
Senior guard Monica McNutt scored a career-high 27 points and sophomore guard Sugar Rodgers added her second double-double of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Each player canned four 3-pointers.
“I was extremely pleased with our effort tonight,” said Georgetown Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. “We couldn’t start the BIG EAST down 0-2, playing from behind in this league is almost impossible. This was a must-win game and we treated it as such.”
Georgetown forced the Orange into a season-high 31 turnovers—21 in the first half.
Rodgers scored 17 first-half points, 10 during a 14-5 run over the final 2:08. After the Hoyas’ 19-point lead early in the second half was cut to 55-45 with 11 minutes remaining, McNutt hit consecutive 3-pointers and the Orange would get no closer.
Syracuse sophomore Elashier Hall led the Orange with a team-best 16 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Kaya Alexander – the reigning BIG EAST and ECAC Player of the Week – added 14 points and five rebounds, while senior Erica Morrowhad 13 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Syracuse had outrebounded its opponents in every game this season by a lofty 21.2 rebounds per game, but Georgetown finished with a 36-34 advantage.
Material from interviews, the Associated Press wire service as well as league and team sources was used in this report.