Shenneika Smith talks about the benefits of bringing on Joe Tartamella as head women's basketball coach.
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Eugeneia McPherson speaks about the hiring of Joe Tartamella as head women's basketball coach.
Nadirah Mckenith talks about the hiring of Joe Tartamella as St. John's women's basketball coach.
The St. John's women's basketball team started the day with practice as usual at Carnesecca Arena. After practice, the Athletic Department and Redzone through a pep rally to send the team off to Norman, Okla., where the third-seeded Red Storm will be playing the First Round of the NCAA Tournament against 14th-seeded Creighton.
At the pep rally, Tony Luftman, the voice of STJ-TV kept the excitement up until the team arrived, freshly showered and ready to fly to Oklahoma. Luftman introduced the team, which came out to a round of applause and music from DJ Zeke and the St. John's pep band.
After each member of the team was introduced, head coach Kim Barnes Arico, the BIG EAST Coach of the Year, gave the team and crowd in attendance a pep talk and thank you.
The Red Storm exited the Carnesecca Lobby through a tunnel of band, cheer and dance team members as they boarded the bus to MacAuthor Airport in Islip, N.Y.
At the airport the St. John's women's basketball squad posed for a picture with the staff at MacAuthor before boarding the Southwest Charter to Norman.
St. John's landed in Norman three and a half hours later, to sunny skies and 70 degree weather. Bus-driver Don introduced the team to the Oklahoma country-side.
At the hotel, dinner and film await as Saturday will bring practice and press conferences preceding the Red Storm's First Round game vs. Creighton.
Check back for more updates from St. John's third-straight NCAA Tournament trip!
Watch the St. John's women's basketball team diligently fill out their brackets as they wait for their name to be called, then see their instant reaction to the ESPN announcers breakdown of their 2011-12 successes. Rookie Amber Thompson gives a short interview (3/12/12).
St. John's women's basketball junior Shenneika Smith talks about the Red Storm's postseason mantra "E.M.P.I.R.E." as she awaits St. John's fate in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. (3/12/12).
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico interviews with the Washington Post and Washington Times after No. 18 St. John's upset over No. 12 Georgetown on Monday afternoon (Feb. 25, 2012).
Junior point guard Nadirah McKenith in her postgame press conference after St. John's 61-52 upset over No. 17/16 Rutgers at the RAC. McKenith had 18 points.
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico speaks at the postgame press conference after defeating No. 17/16 Rutgers, 61-52 in Piscataway. The win solidifies Barnes Arico's name in history as St. John's all-time winningest coach.
St. John's women's head basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico talks about the team's upcoming game against Marquette at Madison Square Garden.
St. John's women's basketball assistant coach Megan Duffy previews tonight's BIG EAST match up at Syracuse (1/12/12). #stjwbb
St. John's women's basketball head coach Kim Barnes Arico sat down with the media following her team's 57-41 win over BIG EAST foe Providence.
Senior Da'Shena Stevens returned to practice on Dec. 2 after sitting out the first eight games due to an offseason knee injury. Here she chats about her first three practices back (12/7/11).
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico
On the progress of Da'Shena Stevens rehabilitation:
"Da'Shena went to the doctor Friday (Dec. 2). The doctor said things looked good and we are going to start gradually working her back in to workouts and practice. Right now she's doing some stuff at practice, no contact or anything. She's trying to really get her condition ramped up. She's going through drills, just not any contact. In the next couple weeks we're going to progressively work her back into practice. Wishfully thinking, we'll have her back by our Christmas tournament."
After four great days at the Junkanoo Jam, the St. John's women's basketball team was back to business as usual on Monday, with film, practice and conditioning on the beach to get ready for Wednesday's game vs. Howard. After practice it was back to NY via Charlotte airport to LaGuardia (11/28/11).
With no games to play on Sunday, St. John's women's basketball was treated to a Beach Party hosted by @JunkanooJam. Junkanoo Jam All-Tourney selection, Shenneika Smith talks about her day with waverunners, banana boats, team pyramids and Monday's trip home.
After the karaoke contest following St. John's victory over Temple in the Junkanoo Jam, the St. John's women's basketball team took to Port of Lucaya to check out the local environment. There, the Red Storm met up with No. 5/4 Texas A&M, the defending national champions, as the Aggies taught the Red Storm to "Wobble."
On the second day of play at the Junkanoo Jam in Freeport, Bahamas, St. John's defeated Temple 59-53 in a come-back victory (Nov. 26). With no game to play the following day, the women's basketball squad decided to have some team bonding, by having a class vs. class Karaoke contest... who do you think the winners are?
St. John's played Iowa in the opening game of the Junkanoo Jam Tournament in Freeport, Bahamas. Before tip off, the Red Storm stood for both the U.S. National Anthem and Bahamian National Anthem. Schoolchildren from St. Georges were treated to some top notch women's basketball. St. John's lost to Iowa, 60-52 and will play Temple at 1 p.m. on Saturday. #stjwbb (11/26/11).
St. John's women's basketball traveled to Freeport, Bahamas for Thanksgiving break to take part in the Junkanoo Jam. Friday features the Red Storm's contest vs. Iowa. Join Jennifer Blanding and the rest of the squad as they introduce fans to the Junkanoo Jam! (11/24/11).
Red Storm senior Tesia Harris checks in after her first official day of practice (Oct.4, 2011), after sitting out 2010-11 due to NCAA transfer rules.
St. John's freshman guard D'Angelo Harrison and both the men's and women's basketball teams invite you to participate in the inaugural 'Dribble For The Cure' this Saturday, Sept. 24, on the St. John's campus. Dribble For The Cure helps raise awareness and money for the battle against childhood cancer.
2011 graduate Centhya "Coco" Hart will head to Finland to play for team Kerava Energy from Aug. 31 to Dec. 19.
The St. John's Pep Band sends the Red Storm off to Maples Pavilion for its NCAA Tournament First Round matchup with Texas Tech in style.
Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico and student-athletes sit down with the media prior to Saturday's First Round matchup against Texas Tech.
The STJ women's basketball team earned its second-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament on Monday night. The Red Storm earned the No. 9 seed in the Spokane, Wash. Regional and will face Texas Tech in the opening round on Saturday, March 21 at 4:20 p.m. ET.
NEW VIDEO! STJ WBB: Shenneika Smith Previews WVU Game (2/28/11). STJ faces WVU on ESPN2 tonight at 7 p.m.!
Senior Sky Lindsay previews the Red Storm's women's basketball game at Villanova Tuesday night. She also talks about the committment the team needs to make to wining the final three games.
The Women's Basketball team sold raffle tickets at the men's basketball game vs. Rutgers on Feb. 2, 2011. All money collected went toward the Pink Zone initiative. The Red Storm's Pink Zone game is on Feb. 13 vs. Georgetown at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Da'Shena Stevens scored 22 points in St. John's 69-53 victory over Providence on Jan. 29, 2011 at Alumni Hall.
After shoot around, Sky Lindsay previews today's game at Providence (1/29/11).
Senior Sky Lindsay sits down with Louisville-native, Zakiyyah Shahid-Martin to preview the Louisville game and talk about playing in Kentucky.
St. John's hosts Seton Hall on Dec. 8 for its BIG EAST Conference opener at 7 p.m. Sky Lindsay and Jennifer Blanding gave their pregame impressions on Wednesday's match up.
Senior Coco Hart scored 15 points to help St. John's to a 66-42 victory over Boston University on Saturday.
St. John's defeated Boston University, 66-42 on Saturday, Dec. 4. Junior Da'Shena Stevens remarked on her 15-point performance and gave her impressions on Wednesday's game vs. Seton Hall.
The women's basketball team gave back to the community at St. John's Bread & Life in Brooklyn, with NBC 4's Bruce Beck and his family.
En route to the women's basketball game vs. Arkansas State, the team stopped in Memphis where senior Coco Hart's family was gracious enough to host the team for a Memphis-style family BBQ. Thanks Hart Family!
Women's Basketball seniors Sky Lindsay and Coco Hart on Episode 1 of the "On the Sideline With Sky." The two took some time out during their Kansas State road trip to talk with Red Storm fans.
Junior Da'Shena Stevens talks about Basketball Media Day from Taffner Field House.
St. John's 2010 Red Storm Tip-Off made me wish I had gone to a Division I school. The experience was a complete and utter display of school spirit. While actual games unite the team and fans behind a common opponent, a school's Midnight Madness has no opponent; it's just one big party.
It started with the introduction of the women's team, who displayed unity from the start. The girls came out dancing after their names were called, which immediately got the crowd rocking. Then, the team performed an impressive dance routine that only took them two days to put together.
Coach Kim Barnes Arico said to the crowd afterward, "We know these girls can dance, but the question is, 'Can they ball?'"
Oh, they balled. While the performance didn't include any high-flying dunks or acrobatic moves, the girls were fundamentally sound and displayed smooth shooting.
Senior guard Sky Lindsay, one of the sharpshooters, later said to me, "It was so much fun out there, but I can't wait for the guys to come out. Paris Horne and Justin Burrell, especially. They are the best dancers!"
The boys, however, were not quite as unrestrained as the girls. Though they were bashful about dancing, they let loose on the basketball court. The scrimmage became a complete dunk fest, highlighted by freshman Dwayne Polee's crowd-igniting windmill jam.
I interviewed senior star D.J. Kennedy after the scrimmage. He clearly wanted to watch the Slam Dunk contest much more than he wanted to be interviewed by me, but he was a good sport about it. His eyes kept straying toward the court where Polee, Horne, and Quincy Roberts were duking it out. I had to tap him and pull on his jersey a few times to get his attention directed back toward the camera.
I got done just in time to see Polee score a zero on his final dunk followed by Horne throwing down a between-the-legs, tomahawk jam that got the crowd on its feet.
Kennedy had picked his buddy Horne, a fellow senior, to win the contest instead of the freshman sensation Polee, who was everyone else's favorite. As it turned out, Kennedy was right. Call it experienced intuition.
Horne won by a wide margin. When I spoke to him afterward, he was all smiles as he told me that he had no plan to do the dunk. Really, he just took off and did it.
If that kind of spontaneity and luck is a sign of success to come for the Red Storm, then we're in for a wild and exciting ride.
For more Sports in Review by Susan Shan, please visit www.SusanShan.com.
The St. John's women's basketball team volunteers every month to help out with the Midnight Run in New York City. Briana Brown interviews Jennifer Blanding on the community service project. Tesia Harris and Shenneika Smith are also featured.
St. John's women's basketball players Nadirah McKenith, Keylantra Langley and Jennifer Blanding checked in during last week's photo day in Taffner Field House!
St. John's rising sophomore Shenneika Smith checks in for a summer update.
Kelly McManmon checks in and discusses her experience at the 3-Point Shootout at the Final Four and her thoughts on her senior year at St. John's.
Hey St. John's fans! Kelly here writing to you from Hartford, Conn., at the BIG EAST Tournament. With the regular season over and done, it's an exciting time for our team. We received some really great honors with Da'Shena Stevens named first team All BIG EAST and Shenneika Smith and Nadirah McKenith named to the BIG EAST Freshman Team. This is a testament to all their hard work and the commitment to success that our team has had this year.
Since we finished out our conference schedule strong with a win over Pitt on Monday, we were able to clinch the No. 4 spot and gained two byes in the tournament. This is a big advantage, giving us plenty of prep time for our game on Sunday. After practice at St. John's and the drive up from Queens yesterday, we got a chance to relax in the hotel last night, practice this morning and then watch the Notre Dame vs Louisville game today to get a another glimpse of who we will take on tomorrow. Turns out it will be a rematch with Notre Dame. Our team is up and excited after coming so far this year, and we are determined to make our mark in the tournament this year. We have put ourselves in a really great position and now it's time to make the most of it!
#23 Kelly McManmon
Since we finished out our conference schedule strong with a win over Pitt on Monday, we were able to clinch the No. 4 spot and gained two byes in the tournament. This is a big advantage, giving us plenty of prep time for our game on Sunday. After practice at St. John's and the drive up from Queens yesterday, we got a chance to relax in the hotel last night, practice this morning and then watch the Notre Dame vs Louisville game today to get a another glimpse of who we will take on tomorrow. Turns out it will be a rematch with Notre Dame. Our team is up and excited after coming so far this year, and we are determined to make our mark in the tournament this year. We have put ourselves in a really great position and now it's time to make the most of it!
#23 Kelly McManmon
St. John's women's basketball player Kelly McManmon enters her first video blog! Kelly talks about STJ's win over Rutgers, her great year from 3-point range and this Saturday's Senior Day!
Hey St. John's Fans! Hope you are as excited as I am about our big win on Tuesday vs. Notre Dame! It was a total team effort and everyone contributed as we battled hard and got ourselves the victory. After playing the Huskies tough at their place last weekend and still coming away with a loss, this game was really important for us as we needed to bounce back with a good showing. Taking care of business on our home court felt great, especially with the support of the rowdy crowd behind us in Carnesecca Arena.
It has been a challenging road through BIG EAST play, but we've been holding strong and giving great effort through all the ups and downs. Now, we have some time off this weekend without a game to get ready to take on Rutgers on the road next Wednesday. As conference play is beginning to dwindle and only three games remain, its important for us to buckle down and improve what we need to in order to keep moving forward. It is exciting to see how far we have come already this season and right now our focus is on improving ourselves and taking it one game at a time.
The chemistry on our team is only getting stronger and stronger. Overcoming adversity each game and each day in practice really is building us into a tight unit! The energy is high on our team. Everyone is excited for these last games and motivated to sacrifice and put in the work to continue to get better each day to finish out the regular season as strong as we can! Thanks for reading! Go Red Storm!
It has been a challenging road through BIG EAST play, but we've been holding strong and giving great effort through all the ups and downs. Now, we have some time off this weekend without a game to get ready to take on Rutgers on the road next Wednesday. As conference play is beginning to dwindle and only three games remain, its important for us to buckle down and improve what we need to in order to keep moving forward. It is exciting to see how far we have come already this season and right now our focus is on improving ourselves and taking it one game at a time.
The chemistry on our team is only getting stronger and stronger. Overcoming adversity each game and each day in practice really is building us into a tight unit! The energy is high on our team. Everyone is excited for these last games and motivated to sacrifice and put in the work to continue to get better each day to finish out the regular season as strong as we can! Thanks for reading! Go Red Storm!
Hey St. John's fans! It's Kelly McManmon coming to you from our bus ride home to St. John's after a big win over our state rival Syracuse. Even with four hours of driving ahead of us we are all feeling great and enjoying this moment of victory. It was a tough battle that came down to the wire, but we pulled together and came away with an all-around team victory where everyone contributed. This game was filled with a lot of clutch plays in which we were really able to deliver.
The game is definitely a great confidence builder for us, especially our freshmen who are doing big things this year. We've been able to keep it going after our last three wins over Seton Hall, DePaul at their place, and our home victory versus South Florida at Madison Square Garden last weekend. Playing at the Garden was a lot of fun and it was exciting to be in such a famous arena with so much history. Hopefully the experience of playing on such a big stage will pay off for us down the road this year.
With the start of the second semester and the tough schedule of the BIG EAST season in full force, everyone is working hard to stay on top of it all. The team is feeling good and keeping focused even with our busy schedules. For now, we'll enjoy this victory but tomorrow begins the preparation for Providence, who is playing really well right now. They will have to travel to face us on our home court on Saturday, so we have these next two days to get ready to take them on.
That's all for now, thanks for reading and hope to see you in the stands!
#23 - Kelly McManmon
Hey St. John's Fans! Kelly here, writing to you from the road as we bus back from Northeastern University in Boston where we just won our 12th game of the season. The team is relaxing, eating, and watching a movie, feeling good after getting the win on the ride home. We were fortunate enough to have an unusually long break of six whole days over Christmas where everyone took the time to get home and relax with family and friends. It felt good to get back out on the court today and take care of business.
Now that our non-conference schedule is taken care of, we are in a good position and feeling really confident in one another. Getting those games under our belt will hopefully have prepared us to step into the tough BIG EAST season starting on Saturday when we play West Virginia at home in Carnesecca Arena.
It has been a while since I've written to you and a lot of ups and downs have taken place, but so far a rewarding journey as our team has really bonded and started to gel together. With a record of 12-1 our only loss was a tough one to UNC at their place. Otherwise, we have been going strong through it all and have been able to come out on top. This includes our two tournament championships with wins in Miami at the FIU Tournament and our own St. John's- Chartwells Holiday Classic where we beat Virginia Tech to take the crown.
With that said and done, we are looking forward to the beginning of a new season in our conference schedule where nothing can be taken for granted. Now that the freshmen have gotten some good minutes and with the experience of our returners from last year, everyone is feeling like we have the pieces to be really successful. I'm excited to take on the BIG EAST one last time in my last semester and see what kind of noise we can make this year!
D.J. Kennedy speaks to the media at the 2009-10 Basketball Media Day.
Paris Horne talks about expectations the 2009-10 Basketball Media Day.
Justin Burrell discusses his high expectations for the season at the 2009-10 Basketball Media Day.
Sky Lindsay talks about growing recognition for the Red Storm women's program at the 2009-10 Basketball Media Day.
Shenneika Smith and Kelly McManmon proclaim their excitement for the coming season at the 2009-10 Basketball Media Day.
Hey St. John's Fans! With almost a month into the school year, the team is settled into the routine of classes and preseason. Since our schedule is a little lighter these days, our team has been able to take part in some community service activities. Recently, five of us went out on a Midnight Run with Campus Ministry. We handed out food and clothing to the homeless in Manhattan. It is always a humbling experience helping people, and they truly appreciate our efforts.
On Sept. 27, our coaches and team took part in University Service Day where the St. John's campus participates in various service projects in the local community. Our team went to the Heart Share preschool in Queens and helped with a carnival while entertaining the families and kids passing through. It was a great day filled with fun activities such as face painting, which Elon Sidney is extremely talented at, and hat making where Sky Lindsay really thrived. Overall, it was a fun day and we all had a great time getting out in the community together.
From the basketball end of things, our team has been keeping up with our schedule of team workouts, weight room and conditioning. Everyone is working hard and gearing up during these last few weeks of preseason. Workouts are shorter but intense. Its a good way to get a taste of what real practice will be like and work the freshmen into the system. Our coaches are continually emphasizing the importance of using this time while we have it to work on our skills and clean up any weaknesses before we enter into the grueling two-game-a-week season.
With the season getting closer, we are all coming together and focusing on getting in the gym as much as possible so we are ready to go come mid October. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
- Kelly McManmon #23
Hey women's basketball fans! It's Kelly writing to you from Queens. With the start of school on Wednesday, the team has been busy getting situated with our classes and working out little things like kinks in our schedules. Since we have been here this summer already taking classes, it's not too hard to get back into the swing of things. Although the load is much heavier with many more classes, along with practice starting up, our time seems to have to stretch further and further.
Campus is busy and overflowing with students. It's is a nice change since the quiet summer we had here. I'm glad to see all the faces both old and new. There is definitely a glimmer of fall weather setting in as well, which is refreshing. At this point everyone is just getting settled in for this short week of class.
Right away we get a nice little break with a three day weekend for Labor Day. I'm pretty excited for the weekend because I'm going to watch some tennis just down the road at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. I'm hoping for some exciting matchups. Next week we will start in our preseason workout schedule of lifting weights, conditioning and individual workouts. The team seems reenergized and ready to gear up for the season. More to come next week. Thanks for reading!
- Kelly McManmon #23
Hey everyone, this is Kelly McManmon from the women's basketball team. I'm writing to you from home in Massachusetts. After a summer of being on campus taking classes and working out, it's great to have a few weeks to relax. The last month we worked particularly hard training and getting in shape during the offseason. Overall, I'm really pleased with our effort over the summer, which makes this time during the break even better. It also gets me excited for the upcoming season after seeing our potential.
Even though the summer is wrapping up I'm definitely making the most of these last few weeks. Its pretty nice when my highest priority is getting enough time poolside and eating at my favorite restaurants I've been missing out on. I'm still hitting the gym of course, but really taking advantage of the outdoors. It's great having the time to go hiking, biking and getting in some long runs outside. My teammates still can't understand how running could be one of my favorite things to do. Besides that, it has been great catching up on some quality time with my family and friends, especially my seven nieces and nephews who keep me on my toes.
It's a nice and quiet escape from the city here in Massachusetts. The downtime is just enough to get revived before heading back to school where the real work begins. Until next time, thanks for reading!
- Kelly McManmon #23
