Red Storm smothers Light Blue in second-half surge

The Columbia women’s basketball team gave St. John’s a scare on Friday afternoon, but the Red Storm left Levien Gymnasium with a 75-63 victory. The Lions (4-4) trailed by only three points at halftime, but they struggled toward the end of the second half.

“It’d be easy for me to sit here and talk about how proud I am of the team’s effort, and how we came close, and how we played tough, and all of that, but we expected to win,” Columbia head coach Paul Nixon said. “We weren’t walking on the court thinking, ‘I just hope we can stay within 20 [points] of this team.’ That wasn’t the goal. The goal was to win the game.”

The first half consisted of back-and-forth play, with six ties and 11 lead changes. While St. John’s (7-0) often stymied Columbia with its full-court pressure, the Lions kept the game close through their solid offensive rebounding and defense. Columbia grabbed eight offensive boards and scored six second-chance points while holding St. John’s to two offensive rebounds and zero second-chance scores. In addition, senior guard Danielle Browne and junior forward Judie Lomax each took a charge for the Lions.

Sophomore guard Melissa Shafer sank a 3-pointer with four minutes left in the half to give Columbia a four-point lead, the largest advantage for either team to that point. The trey seemed to give the Lions momentum, but Columbia was unable to make another basket before the half came to a close. St. John’s went on a 7-0 run to take a 33-30 lead at the intermission.

The Lions continued to put up a strong fight for most of the second half. With 12:49 left, the Red Storm took a 10-point lead—its first double-digit advantage of the night—on a 3-pointer by senior guard Kelly McManmon. But the Lions went on an 11-3 run to climb within two points of the Red Storm with 8:21 remaining. Then St. John’s again pulled away from Columbia, outscoring the Lions by 10 points in the final six minutes to clinch the victory.

It was St. John’s that capitalized on strong offensive rebounding in the second half, while the Light Blue struggled to keep possessions alive. The Lions grabbed only two offensive boards and had four second-chance points. Meanwhile, the Red Storm pulled down 12 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points.

“They [St. John’s] had two offensive rebounds at half, and they end up with 14,” Nixon said. “That right there’s the difference in the game.”

Lomax—the nation’s leading rebounder a season ago—fouled out with four minutes to play, taking away Columbia’s greatest threat on the boards. She finished with six rebounds, a far cry from her average of 12.1 per game.

Four of the Lions’ starters scored 13 points, but junior center Lauren Dwyer went just 1-for-7 from the field and finished with three points. Freshman guard Shenneika Smith scored a game-high 15 points for St. John’s, while the Red Storm bench contributed 27 points.

“I’m not going to sit here and act like it wouldn’t have been an upset, but we had an opportunity … and we didn’t get it done down the stretch,” Nixon said. “That part is disappointing. But overall, there’s a reason they’re now 7-0.”