Women's Basketball takes down St. John's, 75-72

Thursday, December 30

Queens, N.Y.

7:00 p.m.

Brown University

5-7,0-0Ivy League

St. John's

5-7,1-1Big East

Brown

St. John's (NY)

Photo by: Nick Bello

Women's Basketball takes down St. John's, 75-72

12/30/2021 9:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

QUEENS, N.Y. – Brown women's basketball earned a tough 75-72 win over St. John's on Thursday (Dec. 30) behind a career performance by Kyla Jones. Jones led the Bears with a career-best 22 points.

Jones went 8-for-13 from the field and was 6-for-6 from the free throw line as the Bears took down a Big East opponent for the first time since beating Providence 64-59 in the 2017-18 season. It was the first win for the Bears against a Big East team not named Providence since beating Villanova 60-59 back in 92-93.

Isabella Mauricio was second on the team with 18 points, two shy of her career-best. Mauricio led the Bears with three threes and hit three free throws, all coming with under 30 seconds left in the game as Brown withheld a late run by St. John's.

"I was really proud with how our players handled this whole situation," said head coach Monique LeBlanc. "We had great practices leading up to the break and even when we got back. We circled up and said we have a game. We want to get going at a high level and obviously St. John's from the Big East gave us a game at a high level heading into Ivy League play."

The Bears held a strong advantage on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 42-33, thanking in part to a career-best 12 rebounds from Mya Murray. Murray also finished the night with eight points as the third-leading scorer for Brown.

Brown dominated St. John's off the bench thanks in large part to Jones' performance. The Bears outscored the Red Storm 31-6 off the bench and also held a strong advantage inside with a 38-24 advantage in the paint.

Down 12-11 after the first quarter, Brown took the lead in the second quarter on a 7-0 run. Jones started the run with a layup. After a miss by St. John's, Murray grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Jones picked up a steal on the next possession that led to a three by Mauricio to cap the run and put the Bears up 21-17.

With four minutes left in the half, Jones grabbed another steal, one of three on the night, and found Maddie Mullin for a three to push the lead to 26-19. Murray's layup a minute later gave Brown its largest lead of the half at nine.

Mullin hit a three to start the second half to put Brown up 11 but the Red storm cut the lead to seven after a three. Ashley Ducharme, who scored a season-best seven points, hit a layup to end the run. Dani Short hit back-to-back layups and Jones added two free throws as Brown used a 6-0 run to push its lead to a game-high 14. A late run by the Johnnies cut the lead to eight going into the final quarter.

Amanda Latkany, who had seven rebounds and three blocks, began the fourth with a three and layups by Jones and Murray pushed Brown's lead to 62-49 with 7:09 left to play. Jones answered a run by St. John's with another layup to keep the Bears up nine with just over four minutes on the clock.

The game got tense as St. John's hit a three to cut Brown's lead to 64-60 with 3:48 on the clock. Niether team scored over the next 2:30 with Mauricio hitting a huge three to put Brown back up 67-60. After St. John's hit another three, Jones picked up a three-point play in response. St. John's hit another three but Brown got two free throws from Mullin. Another three cut Brown's lead back to three. Mauricio was put on the line by St. John's and hit both before another three by the Jonnies cut the lead to two. With under a second left, Mauricio finished the game off with a free throw to give the Bears a huge win.

Brown will return to the court on Sunday (Jan. 2) as the Bears will start Ivy League play against Penn at home. The game at the Pizzitola Sports Center will begin at 2 p.m.

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