Hot start continues for St. John’s women’s basketball with perfect Cayman Islands trip

A little over a week since their upset victory over then-No. 18 Oklahoma State, the St. John’s women’s basketball team has carried its impressive early-season momentum into the Cayman Islands Classic, picking up two wins over Georgia Tech and Memphis during Thanksgiving weekend to improve to 7-1.

St. John’s opened their trip with a nail-biting 77-75 victory over Georgia Tech on Friday. The Red Storm jumped out to a 23-13 lead by the end of the first quarter thanks to some big-time buckets from Kylie Lavelle, who scored 10 of the Red Storm’s first 14 points.

The Yellow Jackets stormed back in the second quarter, cutting into the Red Storm’s lead and forcing a tight game heading into halftime. St. John’s only led 38-34 at the break. The back-and-forth battle continued in the second half, with both teams trading buckets, and Georgia Tech took a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

However, the Red Storm responded with a 12-3 run. Janeya Grant only scored seven points, but hit the game-tying triple with 4:35 to play and a three-pointer that pushed St. John’s’ lead to four with 1:05 remaining. Three Red Storm players scored in double-figures, with Brooke Moore leading all players with 25 points, Sa’Mya Wyatt not far behind her with 20 points, and Kylie Lavelle finishing with 11 points after a torrid first quarter.

Saturday’s game against Memphis was less intense, as the Red Storm rolled to an 84-73 win over Memphis in an electric offensive performance.

The Tigers raced out to an 8-3 lead early in the first period after several forced turnovers for Memphis. However, the Johnnies would spark a run and take control of the game from there. St. John’s snatched the lead late in the first period thanks to a Kylie Lavelle layup to eventually take the lead and finish out the period 23-13 after a layup from junior Beautiful Waheed.

St. John’s kept their foot on the gas pedal, shooting 77% in the first half. Janeya Grant scored a buzzer-beating three before halftime to send the Red Storm into the locker room with a 44-36 lead.

The second half was more of the same. The Red Storm extended their lead as much as 17 points after Janeya Grant sank a three-pointer with less than three minutes remaining. The Tigers made it a little interesting by responding with a 9-0 run, but it was a little too late, as St. John’s offense proved too much.

Despite turning the ball over 21 times, the Red Storm posted their best shooting performance of the season, finishing the game shooting 60.4% from the field. Sa’Mya Wyatt paced all Red Storm players with a season-high 22 points, while Beautiful Waheed also recorded a season-high of 17 points.

St. John’s looks to carry their early-season momentum back to Queens when they open their Big East season against the Creighton Bluejays (2-4) on Thursday, December 4th at Carnesecca Arena (7:00 p.m., ESPN+).